Digital Economic Models – tried and tested to blue sky
Simon Worthington
Please come along or could forward to someone who'd be interested.
Cheers
Simon #mutemagazine
Digital Economic Models � tried and tested to blue sky
http://www.meetup.com/Art-of-Digital-London/events/30085651/
Digital Economic Models � AoDL August Meetup - 24th August 2011, 6.30 �
8pm, at the Photographers' Gallery offices, 9 William Road, London, NW1 3ER
As the pressure from funders intensifies to find alternative revenue
streams � redirecting our expectations from state funding to
philanthropy particularly � the Net and digital are enjoying part of the
attention as a source of potential answers to our �problem�.
The Net has for mass media constituted something of a slow motion train
wreck, with the traditional economies and stable revenues of a range of
sectors undergoing major transformations, if not outright crises. So if
music and newspapers, to name a couple, have experienced digital as a
disruptive rather than beneficial force, why should it be any different
for the �micro media� of the cultural community?
It might be argued that one significant difference between the output of
cultural producers and their mass media counterparts is that culture
remains governed by an ethos of uniqueness (the singular, live
experience of a performance; the personal experience of an artwork in
space), whereas mass media is formatted precisely to be repackagable for
its multiple digital destinations. While mass media producers thus
render themselves vulnerable to �disruption� from the likes of iTunes
or, at the other end of the spectrum, pirates, culture might be regarded
as existing in a cordon sanitaire of sorts � safe and, ironically, in
possession of something to sell!
For August�s Meetup we propose to divide this discussion on Economic
Models into two simple areas: 1) well-tried or proven economic models
and 2) more experimental models that are nonetheless advancing in their
development, or reaching a state of maturity.
As is known by most of us who work in the cultural sector, these latter
areas present risks that are often too high for already overstretched
organisations to countenance. The question is, does the �austerity�
model of collaborations/partnerships now being promoted by funders
genuinely offer more realistic prospects for success?
*1) Tried and tested areas*
(NB � the list below is presented with the caveat that we are all aware
eCommerce and ticketing is still a long way from offering smooth and
reliable experiences!)
*Intellectual property
*Online archives � which can be used to drive traffic to other paid
content (an example being London Review of Books� release of its back
catalogue archive to drive subscriptions)
*Educational lecture series � which can be used to attract people to
courses, or as exclusive added value content for course attendees.
*Freemium v paid-for content
*Donations
*Advertising
*eCommerce
*Ticketing
*2) Experimental/advanced areas*
*Crowdfunding/Crowdsourcing
*Micro fan payment � e.g. Flattr, a micro donations service
*Flat rate � this is a Collections Agency model for the Net, like
Performing Rights Society (PRS) in the UK but for net content
*Pay-per-view, Download-to-own or Streaming of content � examples being
YouTube�s paid channels or dedicated services like DigitalTheatre
*ePublishing � apps, tablet and eBooks content
*IPTV/Web TV � paid web TV Channels like Sky Arts
*Cloud services and hosting � From Google Apps and Docs, to straight web
hosting
*PayPal � its �Adaptive Payment Framework�, which allows for payments to
be split among recipients automatically
*Amazon Pro Merchant seller accounts � which allow selling across the
EU, with fulfillment and zero postage in UK, DE, FR, IT.
*Alternative currencies � Bit-Coin
Please join us for what promises to be an interesting discussion, and do
feed back on the above if you would like to.
We look forward to seeing you!
Best
The AoDL Team