Free... for Free by Chris Anderson

Posted by Francis Raymond July 8th 09

The free economy that has been expanding ever since our lives got digital is generating a lot of discussions these days. You've heard about the newspapers' financial troubles associated to the free distribution of their content, the music and film industries' fight against piracy or Radiohead giving their creations away to whoever wants to pay attention. Some swear that our economies will be transformed for the best by all that is free, others say it will be our demise! Truth is, information is scattered here and there and is mostly based on opinions, not facts. So is Free a good or bad thing for us?

Chris Anderson has recently released a book about the free economy that I had the pleasure to read... for free. Indeed, his book was published on good ol' traditional paper, but also digitally on Scribd (with more free distribution channels to come). Free brings a lot of food to the table - it starts off with a historical overview of the free economy, from Jell-O to Gillette up to Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead, then moves on to full course where it dissects nicely different models of the free economy (freemiums, freebies, piracy, etc.) as well as its specific effects on human psychology. The book is definitely an advocator of "free", even though the author tries to give its negative side some coverage as well. Let's say the book tends to bend towards Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do politics - How can you compete against free? Instead of trying to fight it, embrace it. Chris Anderson states his point loud and clear, backed up with great amount of facts, case studies and examples. Once you're done reading, it is hard not to consider having a slice of that cake integrated to your business model. But can this be sustained by any types of businesses? Also, for all these companies that succeed with their "free" model, how many just don't cut it? Monetizing the free economy is still a challenge for many online and offline businesses, especially since ad spending and revenues keep going down. Any newspaper representative will tell you how much of a challenge it is.

All in all, Free makes for a great poster child of the free economy and is packed with examples, facts and statistics that supports this business model. Read it for inspiration and see if this can be applied to your business or project, but bear in mind that "free" still asks for creative monetization models. But eh, why don't you check it out yourself and see if Free applies to you... and it won't cost you a dime!