Can business models based on giving away content and allowing it to be re-mixed and/or re-used really work? Anyone who has been watching the Web closely over the past few years knows they can, but their are still plenty of doubters out there. It’s good to have some case studies to reference.
The video below (click here if you don’t see it) is a documentary by Frances Pinter and David Percy called Publishing Open Content. It features interviews with three entrepreneurs who have been successful with open approaches: Tom Reynolds from Random Acts of Reality, Timo Hannay, of nature.com, and John Buckman, of Magnatune. (27:27 minutes)
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If you don’t want to watch the full video, you can also view each interview indvidually:
It may seem a bit odd to throw this in while in the midst of posting a series about how to sell more e-learning, but one of the points these entrepreneurs make – and one I have also made in my Can Open Education Work for Associations series – is that open content and paid content are generally quite complementary.
Thanks to Open Education News for pointing out the posting about this on the Creative Commons blog.
Jeff Cobb
Hedgehog & Fox