Kevin Kelly Better Than Free

If something can be copied for free, what makes people pay for it?

Kelly’s Idea

Kelly suggests that, in an environment when almost anything can be copied and made worthless, anything that cannot be copied becomes scarce and therefore valuable.

Kelly believes there are Eight uncopyable values or ‘generatives’ that can be combined or used singularly, in order to make someone

want to pay for a product or service rather obtaining it for free.

KEVIN KELLY

Accessibility

In paid-for products an individual is given the ability to store the product wherever they want. This enables them to access it securely whenever and usually in a pretty tidy way. In contrast a free product that may be illegally downloaded would have to be backed up, saved, stored, moved around etc.. And this will get very boring.

An example could be Spotify – they allow all your music to be stored in one easy simple place online or offline.

Number of subscribers to Spotify

The service had approximately ten million users as of 15 September 2010, about 2.5 million of whom were paying members. Total users reached 20 million by December 2012, five million of whom pay a monthly subscription fee that varies based on locale.

Authenticity

Consumers are able to grab key software applications for free, but even if they don't need a manual, they might like to be sure it is bug free, reliable, and warranted.

When products are bought directly from a band then this is ensured. The paid-for items will come with an assurance of validity and often extra items such as a signature from perhaps a band to give extra authenticity.

iTunes is an example of a reliable source for paid-for songs that often offer live performances and exclusive tracks from certain artists.

Number of ‘subscribers’ for iTunes

Last year iTunes reached an estimate of around 20 million monthly visits and payments and in 2008 iTunes reached a staggering figure of 5 billion total downloads on their site.

AUTHENTICITY

Given the multitude of fake copies on the internet, anything that has actual value is often copied. A copy has a few flaws that an original authentic version would not have, an example of this is pirated software. When looking for software some people will choose an authentic version because with authenticity comes bonuses such as tech support and bug fixes which you may not get with a pirated version. Whilst the software itself is free, if it is not authentic it loses it’s value, therefore the value is not in the software, but the authenticity. Another example is within’ the music industry, when many copies of albums are released to pirate websites, these files can be copied incorrectly and contain the wrong formatting. This is normally proven when the pirated music files are played on stereos and the instruments do not pan correctly to the different outsources.

Authenticity…The difference between paying for a product and illegally downloading is its quality/authenticity. For example illegally downloading a film will usually be pixelated and out of sync with the sound however subscribing to a movie channel or music app will guarantee the authenticity and quality of the product.

A product example we can use is Spotify which is an online music streaming app which has three membership programs the first is free but it gives you a limited amount of time each week and you will have adverts in-between every couple of songs played, a £5.99 subscription which removes the adverts and lets you stream spotify on your phone and then a £10.00 subscription which means you can do everything in the premium subscription and also stream music even when you’re not connected to the internet and also get to listen to albums early before anyone else.

FINDABILITY

• Netflix – Categorizes by genre, popularity, release date etc

• Cookies on websites allow relevant material that is to your interest to appear first.

Immediacy…Immediacy is how quick you can access something such as Netflix which offers you to stream TV shows and movies instantly for £6.99 a month and you can do this immediately whereas if you illegally download a movie it could take ages for it to download and after download there could be troubles with the footage such as bad quality and sound errors.

People who illegally download music on websites, for example youtube2mp3 you will experience bad quality sound and it could take a while for it to download whereas if you buy a song of ITunes this will only take seconds and you will get a better quality and you will get the album artwork and information on the song.

PATRONAGE• Kelly believed that the customers want to pay for the content

they are getting. He said they wanted to pay the creators. But the customers will only pay for the content if it is easy to get and they can quickly download it, it will also need to be a decent price that is not to much or the customer will look else where for the music. The band Radiohead allow people to download their music for free and the listeners can donate money towards the band. They recommend $5 a download but they do not have this as a fixed price.

PatronageIt is my belief that audiences WANT to pay creators. Fans like to reward artists, musicians, authors and the like with the tokens of their appreciation, because it allows them to connect. But they will only pay if it is very easy to do, a reasonable amount, and they feel certain the money will directly benefit the creators. Radiohead's recent high-profile experiment in letting fans pay them whatever

they wished for a free copy is an excellent illustration of the power of patronage. The elusive, intangible connection that flows between appreciative fans and the artist is worth something. In Radiohead's case it was about $5 per download. There are many other examples of the audience

paying simply because it feels good.

What this means, is that we are more likely to pay for a product If we know it’s going straight to the creator or the artist, if it’s benefitting them rather than a record company or a manager for

example. People will sometimes believe that the artist is deserving of the money they make and through appreciation of the artist and as a mark of respect people will choose to pay for what they can get for free, not because that’s the only way to get the product but because they believe the

artist deserves it therefore the value goes above and beyond what the track itself is worth. Another example of this would be faith to a particular brand such as a Windows user choosing to

buy a package of software from Microsoft, rather than downloading it because they appreciate the effort that has gone into writing the software and are therefore willing to pay the programmers.

PersonalizationA generic version of a concert recording may be free, but if you want a copy that has been

tweaked to sound perfect in your particular living room, as if it were preformed in your room, you may be willing to pay a lot. The free copy of a book can be custom edited by the publishers to reflect your own previous reading background. A free movie you buy may be cut to reflect the rating you desire (no violence, dirty language okay). Aspirin is free, but aspirin tailored to your DNA is very expensive. As many have noted, personalization requires an ongoing conversation between the creator and consumer, artist and fan, producer and user. It is deeply generative

because it is iterative and time consuming. You can't copy the personalization that a relationship represents. Marketers call that "stickiness" because it means both sides of the relationship are

stuck (invested) in this generative asset, and will be reluctant to switch and start over.

What this means, is that Kelly believes that, due to personalisation not being able to be copied. Images and artwork, for example, can be easily found for free with as little effort as just googling a vague description of what it is that you want. However, for custom artwork that is personal to

your needs, this cannot be copied, and therefore has value through its exclusivity due to the customer’s individuality. A further example of this is the value of a CD would increase if it was

signed by the artist and addressed to you, the value of the cd isn’t on the music but the personalization and the time of the artist.

PERSONALIZATION • Personalisation can influence a person to buy a product/service

or a membership for a website etc. For example, aspirin is free but aspirin that is tailored to your DNA can cost a great deal. It requires an ongoing conversation between the consumer and the creator, the fan and the artist or the producer and the user. The relationship that is represented through personalization cannot be copied. It can keep people invested in the same membership/ site etc. because they will be more reluctant to switch and start over, this is what marketers call ‘stickiness’.

EVALUATION OF KELLY'S IDEAS.

• As a group we have decided that Kelly's idea is effective as does account for the majority of the reasons as to why people legally obtain media over the web, however there are some other reasons.

• The main reason we feel that Kelly has not discussed in his article is the fact that some people may want to pay for media as they feel it is the morally correct thing to do, as they are against stealing and illegal actives.