– musings by Scott Walker

Posts Tagged: business model

Digital Content Creation — 1 Comment
11
Aug 10

My SXSW Panel Picks

For those interested in transmedia, there are some excellent panels being proposed by experienced creatives. I highly recommend the following:

Maureen McHugh’s ‘ARGS Don’t Work: The Future of Transmedia Stories‘
Jay Bushman’s ‘Transmedia Artists Guild: New Media Needs New Representation‘
Brooke Thompson’s ‘Documenting your Transmedia Project (how to & why)‘
Andrea Phillips’ ‘Hoax or Transmedia? The Ethics of Pervasive Fiction‘
Steve Peters’ ‘Audience Engagement in the Transmedia Age‘
Jenka Garfinkel’s ‘Your Life Is A Transmedia Experience‘
Behnam Karbassi’s ‘Transmedia Production: Making The New Frontier‘

I’ll update with more as appropriate.

Update: Evonne Heyning’s ‘Causebuilding Games: Fundraising & Social Gaming Streams‘

Update: Gareth Skarka’s ‘+5 Sword of ePublishing: Lessons from Tabletop RPGs‘

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Additionally, I have had the pleasure of being asked to be a speaker on a proposed SXSW Film panel being organized by Ross Pruden. The panel is called, “Profiting From Piracy: Selling Your Digital-Age Content.” While tangential to the topics of transmedia and collaborative commercial entertainment, this panel strikes at the core of my personal beliefs about the challenges and opportunities for those creatives operating in a digital world. Issues covered include business models designed to address digital piracy, monetization of digital goods, addressing the economics of artificial scarcity and the infinite goods found in a digital world, copyright considerations, etc. Very excited to be a part of this panel!

Brain Candy — No Comments
16
May 10

New Brain Candy, LLC presentation: Co-creating Value through Collaborative Entertainment

Uploaded a new Brain Candy, LLC marketing presentation that summarizes the approaches, philosophies, and framework considerations for co-creating value with audiences. While it’s focused on collaborative commercial entertainment properties, it has applications outside of commercial entertainment (also posted on the Brain Candy, LLC home page and on my personal Slideshare account).

Brain Candy — No Comments
5
Dec 09

New Brain Candy presentation: The Collaborative Property Model

We just got a new presentation up at the Brain Candy, LLC shop that is a high-level summary of how we apply our collaborative approach to entertainment content (here is a direct link).

The model is incredibly flexible and scalable, and it generates new revenue streams for entertainment properties of many shapes and sizes (movies, TV, RPG, video games; new, dormant, active properties, etc.) to extend them through a collaborative framework that creates new revenue streams for the property.

The short version is that we have built a licensing framework and a narrative structure that allows the creative community at large to participate meaningfully and monetarily in the creation of official content for the entertainment property without requiring the property owner to sacrifice branding or editorial control. It’s a model based on parity of value exchange, and it gives both fans and property owners the ability to generate revenue from what is typically referred to as user generated content.

The Collaborative Property Model is the foundation we use when we approach a new project, since each property has unique qualities, and each property owner has unique goals and concerns. For one example of how the Collaborative Model was customized and applied to a new intellectual property, please check out the Renewable Entertainment Franchise presentation; it summarizes the model used when we created the fantasy world, Runes of Gallidon.

Blogging will be light for a week or two, as I’m traveling on vacation with the family and will be trying hard to spend some long-overdue quality time with them (which doesn’t bode well for twitter, blogs, email, or much else in the way of communication or productivity).

Digital Content Creation / Free Economy / New Media — No Comments
24
Sep 09

Q: What’s the Value of Content?

A: Whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

Not what it cost you to produce or acquire it.

Not what you feel or believe it is worth.

Not what you sold it for yesterday, last week, last month, or last year.

After watching a series of comments on a “hey, here’s how to make free content work!” post yesterday, I was reminded of two things:

  • no demand means no money (simple economics)
  • for a business to be profitable, it must bring something to the market that sells for more than it cost to produce

If the market you operate in changes, especially due to external conditions (consider IBM, Kodak, newspapers), you must change and adapt if you want to remain relevant. If the market no longer values your product/service at a level above your expenses, you have a problem.

There are lots of opinions and statements surrounding the concept of free, but at the end of the day, you have to adjust your business model to accommodate both intra-industrial and external market conditions. Legislated subsidization, complaining that no one understands your value to the world, and suing your customers do nothing to better position your business in the long run.

Yes, for many companies, these are incredibly tough, scary times. Dropping prices, attention fragmentation, and increased competition are a serious combination of challenges to deal with. If companies don’t adapt, some of them won’t be around next year, or they’ll be a former shadow of themselves. But only if they stop adapting.

Change brings both risk and opportunity. You can play defensively and manage risk, act progressively and reach for opportunity, or use a little of both strategies. But ignoring the realities of economics and fundamental business concepts is a recipe for obsolescence.

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