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Alternative business models

From Definition of Free Cultural Works
Revision as of 04:55, 15 February 2007 by Zotz (talk | contribs) (added comment on openbusiness.cc)
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Most (though not all) business models in Western society are based on some form of intellectual property, of which copyright, trademarks and patents are primary examples. New kinds of business models which let authors effectively make a profit out of free content would arguably lead to a dramatic increase in free content creation.

Some of those models are available, and used to some extent, right now. Others can be proposed and maybe, some day, implemented.

One such model is that authors provide some kind of service, and generate content related to their professional activities as an aside. For instance, a musician can earn money from concerts, a software engineer can earn it from mantainance and user suppport, a scientist from teaching and so on.

Other models seek to support content creation in a more direct way:


Jamendo

Copycan


FairShare


For more general discussions on this topic:

OpenBusiness

Careful with openbusiness. I do take part there, but there does not seem to be any real dedication to business models in support of creating Free Content or Open Content. It seems more a site for open and participatory business models even if the works produced are non-free. (If I have this wrong, corrections / clarifications are welcome.)

Still, it is an interesting site and worth a look if you haven't been there.