iTunes Model Brings New Life to Old Journalism, or Maybe Just “Drama?”
6:16 am, March 3rd, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Some think that the iTunes model — small payments for content subscriptions — might help save floundering old media.
One case in point: London fashion glossy “Drama” pictured above which was shuttered as a monthly newsstand mag only to be reborn on iTunes. At $3.99, the digital version for the iPhone and iPod Touch costs about what you’d expect to pay for something you could read on a train.
The people who came up with the idea of letting the mag rise from its ashes in digital form are calling it “the beginning of the next revolution in publishing.”
LA Times columnist David Lazarus, who has much to fear for his own job security, believes the iTunes model or something like it might help keep news organizations afloat.
“ITunes demonstrates that you can charge a fair price for online content and that consumers will respond favorably. The trick is coming up with a business model that works for everyone.
I’m not sure about the micropayment model some are advocating for newspapers. Under this scenario, consumers of digital info would pay, say, a half-cent for every story they read, with the money deducted from a refillable electronic wallet…”
My thinking, which I’m sure will draw scorn from self-serving bloggers everywhere, is that newspapers need to band together for a joint online subscription service.
Digital readers would pay a monthly fee for a full access to the likes of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times…”
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in iTunes | Comment on this article
I would be glad to pay annual subscription fee for the New York Times on my iPhone and have the FULL issue available in a FUNCTIONING app (that does not crash every five minutes and can deliver the advertised option of having the news available for user-specified number of days.)
Azazello, on March 3rd, 2009 at 6:36 am
[...] – or asking for small amounts of money in exchange for small amounts of content. Think iTunes and the music industry. And while I think this strategy worked well for musicians, I don’t see [...]
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