As the web makes the marginal cost of anything that can be delivered electronically too close to zero to measure, the world of marketing changes. Convincing the boss that the capacity of the rack of servers he has just shelled out for should be given away is often a challenge, but the reality is that the world is chasing itself down to free, and many businesses need to figure out how to make money in different ways. The solution still escapes most in the music industry (although Radiohead have done OK) but it is early days, or is it?
The original “free” product was the safety razor blade, given away by King Gillette in a whole array of ways, but a blade is not much good without the razor, and an industry was born, so this dilemma is not new, just different, and far more pervasive.
