Opinion: Is paid-for content a thing of the past?

Posted by Lauren Drablier on October 8, 2008 at 8:34 AM

Idiomag is online magazine that was launched two years ago in order to give users access to music articles without having to buy a plethora of magazines. Idiomag is based on the personalization of content and free access to content. Co-founder Andrew Davies discussed the future of paid-for content and new directions for online publications.

Davies believes that "paid [for] content will die a death in the mainstream, and we're getting closer. People are [now] starting to realize that." This not only applies to the music industry or magazines.

Davies went on to state, "it's got to push the [product] price down to zero [...] Content will be something cut and pasted around the web. As long as content creators can derive some value from it, their value will generally come from something different than subscriptions and licensing arrangements."

Davies also believes that there are a lot of opportunities for creativity in areas such as women's lifestyle and fashion magazines "where there are huge audiences online and publishers aren't doing that many interesting things."

Idiomag is currently working on "restructuring the system" and is also looking into new delivery methods and platforms.

Sources: Journalism.co.uk