Comments on: ‘Free’ as a business model and how it might apply to newspapers http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/ Nic Brisbourne's view from London on venture capital and exploiting change in technology and media Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:08:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: nic http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3294 nic Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:29:43 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3294 Hi Alan - tks for the comments. As I've written before in the context of music the implication of free may well be that the overall market is smaller. That doesn't mean it isn't going to happen though. Hi Alan – tks for the comments. As I’ve written before in the context of music the implication of free may well be that the overall market is smaller. That doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen though.

]]> By: nic http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11515 nic Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:29:00 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11515 Hi Alan - tks for the comments. As I've written before in the context of music the implication of free may well be that the overall market is smaller. That doesn't mean it isn't going to happen though. Hi Alan – tks for the comments. As I’ve written before in the context of music the implication of free may well be that the overall market is smaller. That doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen though.

]]> By: alan p http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3284 alan p Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:38:34 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3284 "Assuming issues of bias can be worked around then this will be a good example of how business models are evolving to deal with the economics of free in the newspaper world." Big ask - given the evidence of the past where this is dominated by special interest groups, I'm dubious that this will change much. The issue with Mike's hypothesis on Techdirt is he doesn't work through the implication of re-setting the overall market size if the infinite good is set to zero. “Assuming issues of bias can be worked around then this will be a good example of how business models are evolving to deal with the economics of free in the newspaper world.”

Big ask – given the evidence of the past where this is dominated by special interest groups, I’m dubious that this will change much.

The issue with Mike’s hypothesis on Techdirt is he doesn’t work through the implication of re-setting the overall market size if the infinite good is set to zero.

]]> By: alan p http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11506 alan p Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:38:00 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11506 "Assuming issues of bias can be worked around then this will be a good example of how business models are evolving to deal with the economics of free in the newspaper world." Big ask - given the evidence of the past where this is dominated by special interest groups, I'm dubious that this will change much. The issue with Mike's hypothesis on Techdirt is he doesn't work through the implication of re-setting the overall market size if the infinite good is set to zero. “Assuming issues of bias can be worked around then this will be a good example of how business models are evolving to deal with the economics of free in the newspaper world.”

Big ask – given the evidence of the past where this is dominated by special interest groups, I’m dubious that this will change much.

The issue with Mike’s hypothesis on Techdirt is he doesn’t work through the implication of re-setting the overall market size if the infinite good is set to zero.

]]> By: Citizen Lame: debating the future of a diseased branch - Bringing Nothing To The Party: Official Blog Of A New Media Whore http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3282 Citizen Lame: debating the future of a diseased branch - Bringing Nothing To The Party: Official Blog Of A New Media Whore Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:51:56 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3282 [...] experts and media pundits on both sides of the Atlantic. Nic Brisbourne from Esprit has a good post here, and the New York Times has a relitively uncritical explainer [...] [...] experts and media pundits on both sides of the Atlantic. Nic Brisbourne from Esprit has a good post here, and the New York Times has a relitively uncritical explainer [...]

]]> By: Richard Morris http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3262 Richard Morris Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:12:08 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3262 sorry David - I should have made it clear that I spent the grewater part of my working life on UK national newspapers. I was being ironic is saying the majority of people view journalism as glamorous, when (most times) it isn't. sorry David – I should have made it clear that I spent the grewater part of my working life on UK national newspapers. I was being ironic is saying the majority of people view journalism as glamorous, when (most times) it isn’t.

]]> By: Richard Morris http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11514 Richard Morris Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:12:00 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11514 sorry David - I should have made it clear that I spent the grewater part of my working life on UK national newspapers. I was being ironic is saying the majority of people view journalism as glamorous, when (most times) it isn't. sorry David – I should have made it clear that I spent the grewater part of my working life on UK national newspapers. I was being ironic is saying the majority of people view journalism as glamorous, when (most times) it isn’t.

]]> By: James Penman http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3261 James Penman Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:10:13 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3261 Richard - my six year old daughter is wandering around a Devon farmhouse at the mo taking hundreds of photos with a DSLR including rather a nice shot of my foot. Is it photography? I don't really care to be honest. It's how it is. It's up to an entrepreneuer or a VC or (gosh) a corporation to find new ways to unlock the revenue from this new reality. Richard – my six year old daughter is wandering around a Devon farmhouse at the mo taking hundreds of photos with a DSLR including rather a nice shot of my foot. Is it photography? I don’t really care to be honest. It’s how it is. It’s up to an entrepreneuer or a VC or (gosh) a corporation to find new ways to unlock the revenue from this new reality.

]]> By: James Penman http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11513 James Penman Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:10:00 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-11513 Richard - my six year old daughter is wandering around a Devon farmhouse at the mo taking hundreds of photos with a DSLR including rather a nice shot of my foot. Is it photography? I don't really care to be honest. It's how it is. It's up to an entrepreneuer or a VC or (gosh) a corporation to find new ways to unlock the revenue from this new reality. Richard – my six year old daughter is wandering around a Devon farmhouse at the mo taking hundreds of photos with a DSLR including rather a nice shot of my foot. Is it photography? I don’t really care to be honest. It’s how it is. It’s up to an entrepreneuer or a VC or (gosh) a corporation to find new ways to unlock the revenue from this new reality.

]]> By: Digidave http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3257 Digidave Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:51:16 +0000 http://www.theequitykicker.com/2008/08/27/free-as-a-business-model-and-how-it-might-apply-to-newspapers/#comment-3257 Yes - I want to echo the last comment: There is no such thing as clean money. We've all heard the horror story of a publisher who killed a story because it would threaten advertising. The idea for spot.us is that if the group of funders is diverse enough - then the journalist is not beholden to any one of them. Take our recently funded SF Election Truthiness Campaign: wiki.spot.us/election It was funded by 73 different people. I'm sure some of those people have their political bias' - but because it was a diverse group the reporter was literally commissioned by the public - and is responsible only to report in as straightforward a manner as possible. As for journalism being an unglamorous job. That might be true. Guess what - it's a job. All jobs can suck at times. Spot.Us isn't trying to turn journalism into a day at the park. We imagine that most of the pitches are going to come from recently laid-off journalists. These people know exactly how unglamorous journalism can be. Yes – I want to echo the last comment: There is no such thing as clean money. We’ve all heard the horror story of a publisher who killed a story because it would threaten advertising.

The idea for spot.us is that if the group of funders is diverse enough – then the journalist is not beholden to any one of them. Take our recently funded SF Election Truthiness Campaign: wiki.spot.us/election

It was funded by 73 different people. I’m sure some of those people have their political bias’ – but because it was a diverse group the reporter was literally commissioned by the public – and is responsible only to report in as straightforward a manner as possible.

As for journalism being an unglamorous job. That might be true. Guess what – it’s a job. All jobs can suck at times. Spot.Us isn’t trying to turn journalism into a day at the park. We imagine that most of the pitches are going to come from recently laid-off journalists. These people know exactly how unglamorous journalism can be.

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