Making Free Music Pay
Business, Music|For all those wondering on how anyone will make money with music being free, read Kevin Kelly’s fantastic article titled “Better Than Free”. He lists eight ways, “Generatives” he calls them, to generate money based on free. Every one of these can be applied to music. Two that are particularly applicable to recorded music are Accessibility and Findability.
Joseph Fosco
December 10th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Hi Joseph, thanks for the link. I’ve been wondering if any of this can be applied to photography as well. Best, Chris
December 12th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Oh, absolutely!. If nothing else, Kelly’s idea of “Embodiment” is perfect for photography. Digital copies could be free (digital copies could even have the photographers name on them – like on your website), but a high quality reproduction without the name costs money. Other of Kelly’s ideas, such as “Immediacy” and “Personalization”, could also work with photography.
What is most challenging and most critical in utilizing these concepts is identifying what can be copied and what cannot. Traditionally we (the creators) place a value on the part of our work that can be copied (the music recording, or the photo) and take for granted the part that can’t. Working within Kelly’s framework requires we distinguish the elements that can not be copied, and chanrge for those – if something can be copied, it is free.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Exceedingly well put. Thanks Joseph!