Wednesday I attended Media Evolution and it was a lot of fun. The reason I went was to see Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine, speak. It was interesting to hear him speak, mainly about his new book Free which is about everything digital going to cost basically nothing and how business can take advantage of this and continue to make money. The model which seemed to be the most popular or at least mentioned the most was a freemium model, where you offer 90% of your service's features for free and charge for that extra 10% and offer it as a premium service. Of course the other popular model to subsidize the free content/services was the traditional ad-supported method which has built powerhouses like Google.
The next part of the conference had a panel of 12 well known Swedish companies/people represented from various media organizations (newspapers, tv, magazine, web) asking questions. This was very interesting and the old media/new media fight was immediately apparent. Funny enough, Chris Anderson was sort of the bridge, he runs a magazine and a website and some of the stuff he said was downright hilarious and very insightful. here are some 'as near as possible' quotes I got (all Chris Anderson unless otherwise noted):
'In the old days you had to go to a bank, get VC money, hire people, and then fail. Now you can put something together in a weekend and fail faster and cheaper.'
This was probably the most symbolic quote of the entire presentation and panel and really shows us the way the future of internet entrepreneurship is heading.
'Anyone who has been in a rock band knows what a day job is. Being in a band is about having fun playing music and meeting chicks'
This was related to the fact people do what they love for free and this is why the explosion of non-commercial bloggers has exploded and won't stop, same with free communities.
'If you are motivated to learn, there has never been a better opportunity.'
He was talking about hiring a CTO for his new UAV company, the best guy for the job he found he was a mexican with no college degree but a PhD in robotics from Google.
'AdSense or a big ad department - advertisers want to deal with big guys... google will thrive with targeted, measurable roi.'
Your two choices to develop, right now.
'I'd say there will be more journalists, just not as many you define as serious'
This was a jab at the newspapers/magazines people who were trying to define their reporters as more 'serious' but Chris was making the point that many bloggers and this more open media are writing pieces that are just as interesting and well written for free.
'Free is a pricetag'-Rasmus Fleischer, Copy Riot
He was talking about the difference between the digital native and the those of us that are simply adopting new technology. The digital native doesn't see free as a price tag, but just accepts it as gratis, while the older folks see it as a price.
'Books are a superior medium. Giving away free to sell more... the world wants what you sell, so you've got time!'
He believes in books, he talked about releasing his new book for free as an mp3, ebook and selling hard cover for 24.95 and expects the first two to be more promotion that will lead to more physical sales.
'Give away the abundance and sell the scarcity'
How to run a freemium service.
'We convert 5-10% of online readers to magazine subscribers'
Interesting numbers about Wired.
'Newspapers value subtract, magazines value add'
If I recall correctly this was in terms of nice layouts, good long articles, advertising that is sometimes actually very appealing to the audience.
3% web revenue for Conde Nast, wired was at 25% web revenue
Interesting numbers. Maybe offers direct insight into which publications will survive at Conde Nast
'Not an advertising medium, it's a subscription medium'(Wired Website)
He didn't see Wired.com as an advertising medium, he saw it as a way to attract subscribers.
'More people will benefit a little less'
This was his egalitarian side, he sees more people making more, while people at the top will be making less.
'When a free user uses us they are paying with their time and we have to respect that.' - Jonathan Forster, Spotify
I really liked this quote. A lot of time free users get treated like dirt by companies, and you wonder why some do well and some fail. I think this is why.
'I am not paying for music. I buy it for convenience and risk reduction.'
Explaining why he buys instead of downloads and how music industry needs to adapt to survive.
'The act of paying pre-qualifies our visitors to our advertisers and they pay us 5 times as much'
'Loyalty, Versioning, Differentiate'
The way to run a successful freemium service.
'Regulations will always lose'
This was mainly in terms of music industry and software piracy but applied to everything I guess.
'In a competitive market prices fall to the marginal cost' - Bertrand
Chris Anderson used those quote a couple times and linked it to his book and belief that everything that can be digital will and the cost will go towards zero.
'The ultimate democratization of the factors of production'
How he sees the internet and people participating. (look up Marx if you don't understand)
*I wish I had the exact quote but it went something like this* We will try everything, keep testing and figure out what is profitable and makes sense
This was one of the responses to how to make money while giving away so much for free especially related to old media business.
Videos from Press Conference