Freemium Blog

Experts from various fields have now begun to give their knowledge for free using blog as a medium. A great example of value being given away every day is Chris Brogan’s new book Social Media 101, Guy Kawasaki’s Reality check or the books of Seth Godin. While these are just few of the many examples of bloggers that share a great deal of value free on the blog. These blogs illustrate the point from the number of people who regularly read the blogs and later on go on to buying the books written by these bloggers. Free: Knowledge and advice ... Read More

They produce a range of very popular and high quality explanatory videos explaining topics of general interest like ‘the financial crisis’ to ‘RSS feeds’ all the videos are in a 3 minute format. A lot of time and considerable talent goes into making these clips that are freely available online. Previously they used this a promotion to get orders for custom videos from corporate clients. However, now they generate revenue from selling corporate licenses and through a referrals to other agencies that are also in the business of making ... Read More

In late 2008 Monty Python announced that they are going to release the complete range of full quality clips on YouTube (see the hilarious as always announcement) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGqX-tkDXEk– many rights holders are going that extra mile and expending all the energy in making sure that their content is taked down from YouTube. Monty Python did the exact opposite. They replaced some of the most popular pirated clips with high quality clips. This resulted in generating attention and sales of their box sets. Free:50 – 60 ... Read More

Nina Paley has freely shared her movie. It was released under the Creative Commons license for everyone to watch and share. A strong believer of the free culture she has shown it is possible to make money without resorting to the strict copyright rules. She has released the numbers behind her business model – overall result – you can read all the numbers here – Link to NYT blogpost Free The movie in different formats either directly from her homepage or via YouTube Premium Paid shows at cinemas, DVDs and merchandise All products are ... Read More

Techno brava is genre of music that is very popular in Brazil. It not only has distinguished sounds but also has a unique business model. CDs of the music are given for free to street vendors who distribute at very low mark up. In this way the original creator of the music does not get anything from the actual copy. Their revenue is generated from sound system parties. Free: The music on the CD (not entirely free but very close) Premium: Parties Recording of the live music from the ... Read More

Magnatune has created a business model around freely available music, licensed with Creative Commons it is free to listen to the streaming music on the site. However, if you would like to buy a CD or use the music for commercial purpose such as a movie or a commercial you do have to pay. Free Music Premium Premium formats and the license to use the music in TV and ... Read More

Jonathan is a computer programmer turned musician who decided to record and release a new song every week for a year. All the songs were made freely available using the Creative Commons License. He generates revenue from the sale of iTunes downloads and CDs as well as merchandise, concert tickets and similar things. Free: Downloads of his music with a Creative Commons license Paid: iTunes downloads CDs Merchandise Concerts Karaoke versions of the ... Read More

John Freese is a drummer and studio musician who in 2009 released his solo album “since 1972”. While this album is not free the other products are too fun not to have them included here. Free: Actually there is nothing free (sorry about that but the paid stuff is too good to leave this example out) Paid: A range of products are available from a $7 digital download to a $75 package including a limo trip to Tijuana, signed drum set and a 5 song EP written about your life. The $250 version limited at 25 pieces and including a lunch with John ... Read More

Corey Smith is a musician that allows fans to download his music for free directly from his webpage. He makes money from selling his concert tickets and music through itunes and CD sales An interesting point to note here is that at one point they removed the free downloads from his webpage and it was noted that the sale of Itunes dropped and when the free downloads were restored the sale started to pick up again. Free: Music tracks are available from Corey’s homepage Premium: Concert tickets, CDs and ... Read More

For a period of time they allowed their fans to download a low quality version of their album “In Rainbows” freely and legally They are the ones who brought in the idea of giving music for free to their mainstream audience. Although they did not share as much as others it is quite interesting to look at the effects of this limited sharing model. Free A low or average quality MP3 was made available as download on their homepage Premium They encouraged fans to pay $5 for the download of the high quality version A conventional CD Concert and ... Read More