Audience is always a component of a "sale" -- whether it's for $0 or $100. Fate -- which started out free when few folks knew us from Adam -- got legs in great part due to the existing audience of Fudge.
It's not about a pre-existing fanbase, though a pre-existing fanbase is certainly one way to achieve audience. You can always adopt an existing one -- or go the hardest way and build one from the ground up.
"Anyway, "For Free" works a lot better when you already have dozens or hundreds of people who are virtually guaranteed to be interested in it."
I think For Free is definitely one great way to find that out too. I'm sure Mike & Jerry had no idea what their potential audience was when they started a little webcomic about two hardcore gamers nearly ten years ago. Now they have quite a little empire.
I don't think having an audience already makes "For Free" work any better than "For Money" works if you don't have an audience. Whether you'd looking at Radiohead's In Rainbows or Hail to the Thief, I doubt any of the MySpace bands could match those numbers even if they put out a CD or boxset into record stores or created a website for a "pay what you will" model. But I'm sure some of them are well on their way to building an audience that will put them there in 5-10 years.
Well, these are teasers. Like previews from movies. You get a funny scene from the movie, but it isn't the whole thing. As soon as the clip ends you want to know what happens next.
So I agree free is good. But give them a taste of the cheese, not the whole enchilada. I think your previews of the OBE products are similar and achieve the same result. People see a little for free and then are willing to spend money get the whole product.
Which is to say, there are a load of things that you can do with free stuff. And there are other things that you can't. And then there are things that you might be able to do with free, but which haven't yet been done.
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It's not about a pre-existing fanbase, though a pre-existing fanbase is certainly one way to achieve audience. You can always adopt an existing one -- or go the hardest way and build one from the ground up.
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Free Stuff Works.
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I think For Free is definitely one great way to find that out too. I'm sure Mike & Jerry had no idea what their potential audience was when they started a little webcomic about two hardcore gamers nearly ten years ago. Now they have quite a little empire.
I don't think having an audience already makes "For Free" work any better than "For Money" works if you don't have an audience. Whether you'd looking at Radiohead's In Rainbows or Hail to the Thief, I doubt any of the MySpace bands could match those numbers even if they put out a CD or boxset into record stores or created a website for a "pay what you will" model. But I'm sure some of them are well on their way to building an audience that will put them there in 5-10 years.
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So I agree free is good. But give them a taste of the cheese, not the whole enchilada. I think your previews of the OBE products are similar and achieve the same result. People see a little for free and then are willing to spend money get the whole product.
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Which is to say, there are a load of things that you can do with free stuff. And there are other things that you can't. And then there are things that you might be able to do with free, but which haven't yet been done.
That last one is especially of interest to me.
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