In the digital and internet age, 'the bits will be free'. That is the nature of digital content - easier to create, easier to copy. If you publish it, it will be available somewhere on the internet 'for free', either a copy of a file or a scan of a document. Creators and publishers need to be able to make money in such an environment, and they won't be able to do it by -in any way- pressuring or otherwise mistreating their customers.
Like it or not, the reduced cost of internet distribution has reduced the perceived value of any product that can be delivered that way. Content creators and publishers benefit from this as it drastically reduces their costs, and the consumer benefits from the free availability of content.
In some quarters there are attempts to undo history, to roll back recent changes as if they never happened, holding on to the past with "laws and locks". This is bad for business and can only harm brand perception in the marketplace. Even implementing copy protection, much as it seems 'right', devalues a brand in the eyes of those who are prepared to pay. Copy protection only inconveniences genuine buyers and is barely noticed by those that would copy.
The scarcity business model has gone forever. There's more on the internet than any one can consume in a lifetime. Content creators and publishers are competing against an abundance of *free*. A new approach is required. Think of the new digital and internet realities as an opportunity to publish more, significantly more, making less profit on each and a reasonable amount on the whole.
Chris Anderson's works on "The Long Tail" and “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” give a slightly extreme view of abundance and the future of making money on the internet. This New Yorker book review (provided *free* to you) is likewise slightly extreme in its criticism but it gives a good idea of the arguments both ways. Suffice to say - abundance is the future. Get with the programme.
If a publisher persists with scarcity, those who pursue abundance will swamp them anyway. It's a big internet and global marketplace now. Dividing markets into territories and selling rights to these territories has gone the way of the dodo. Business plans need to take this into account. Anyone shopping at their local bookstore is there to support a local business that gives them more value than the considerable savings and convenience Amazon provides.
It should be clear that mega corporations that persist with old business models will also go the way of the dodo. Smaller, local newspapers are already breaking down the concentrated media empires of old. More on this in later posts. Profits may never be what they were before. Publishers need to have a way to win customers over and pay to support content creators by sheer goodwill.
Why would a consumer choose to pay for content which they can almost certainly get *free* if they look hard enough? Publishers need to offer paying customers a way to support the content creators they enjoy. Publishers seen to be screwing their content creators will suffer brand degradation and lost goodwill with payment-optional consumers. Many artists have pursued the self-publishing model, some quite successfully, and this is definitely part of the future of internet commerce.
Publishers can offer content creators increased exposure and more equitable deals than some on offer now. It may be to a publisher's advantage to publicise what they pay content creators. A different world I know, but you're relying entirely on goodwill with the consumer now.
There's one other important issue I'd like to raise in this initial post, and that is beating the pirates by making your content available free yourself and giving consumers a way to support the content creator by paying. Cory Doctorow is an author with a major publisher and he makes free ebooks available as an inducement to buy. This general approach is clearly a model for the future of all media, uncomfortable as it may seem at first. Much more on this later, too.
What is value in the internet age? Consumers will pay to support the artists and content creators they enjoy. Publishers must cultivate relationships with consumers so that they will not look elsewhere for content. This means making content without copy protection and available free to induce sales. Publishers must cultivate relationships with content creators to win the goodwill of the payment-optional consumer. If the consumer sees the publisher as a fair and decent conduit to the artist that they wish to support, the publisher will have a role in the future.
