How the New Business Models in the Digital Age Have Evolved
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How the new business models in the digital age have evolved A dosdoce.com report sponsored by CEDRO’s conlicencia.com platform Online licensing solutions Contents 0. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................3 TRANSVERSAL TENDENCIES THAT SHAPE BUSINESS MODELS . 4 BEYOND SINGLE-UNIT SALES: NEW BUSINESS MODELS . 4 1. DIGITAL BUSINESS MODELS ........................................................5 1 .1 . MICROPAYMENTS: FRAGMENTED CONTENT . 7 1.2. PAY-PER-USE: STREAMING & PAY-PER-VIEW . 13 1.3. SUBSCRIPTION . 20 1.4. MEMBERSHIP . 30 1.5. FREEMIUM/PREMIUM . 31 1.6. EMBEDDED ADVERTISING . 35 1.7. OPEN ACCESS . 37 1.8. P2P-MOOCs . 39 2. NEW MODELS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN EXPERIMENTATION AND RATIONALIZATION ........44 2 .1 . PAY WHAT YOU WANT . 45 2.2. BUNDLING . 48 2.3. CROWDFUNDING . 49 2.4. GAMIFICATION . 58 2.5. DIRECT SELLING . 61 2.6. SELF-PUBLISHING . 66 2.7. LIBRARY eLENDING . 73 TYPES OF LICENSES: PERMANENT, PERPETUAL ACCESS, SUBSCRIPTION, PAY WHAT YOU READ, ETC . 75 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL PLATFORMS . 76 KEY POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN STARTING AN eLENDING PROJECT . 78 2.8. RIGHTS LICENSING PLATFORMS . 79 3. THE CURRENT STATE OF ECOMMERCE AND THE EVOLUTION OF PAYMENT MODELS .......81 3 .1 . FROM RETAIL TO eCOMMERCE . 83 3.2. BIG DATA . THE KEY TO DIGITAL BUSINESS MODELS . 85 3.3. FROM FREE TO DIVERSIFICATION: MOVING TOWARDS A BLENDED MODEL . 87 3.4. DIGITAL EVOLUTION AND TRENDS IN LATIN AMERICA . 89 CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES . 89 4. CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................91 5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS / AUTHORSHIP ...............................................92 ABOUT THE LONDON BOOK FAIR . 92 THE QUANTUM CONFERENCE . 92 ABOUT CEDRO . 93 ABOUT CONLICENCIA .COM . 93 ABOUT DOSDOCE .COM . 94 2 Online licensing solutions 0. Introduction This second edition of New Business Models in the Digital Age is full of updated, need-to-know information for anyone interested in this topic . Due to the outstanding reception the original report had in 2014, having been downloaded over 5,000 times, and because of all of the available new data and important developments, it was necessary to expand the report after just a year to include all of the changes that have taken place since then . Some of the biggest news in this year’s edition comes from the world of micropayments, namely the new and hotly debated “pay what you read” business model . The newest changes in subscription models, which are having a hard time taking hold in the book sector, are also discussed as is the surge in the number of new crowdfunding projects that have led to the consolidation of this business trend in the last year alone . The library world has also had an exciting year with respect to eLending licensing in Spanish-language marketplac- es . According to Evolución y tendencias digitales en Latinoamérica (Evolution and Digital Trends in Latin America), a report published by the eBook distribution platform Bookwire1, the decline in print sales, which was once just a prediction but has since become a reality, needs to be balanced with an increase in digital sales, especially for libraries, universities, and other like institutions . The report predicts that at the end of this decade, digital content will make up nearly 60% of the total purchases made by libraries and universities across Spain and Latin Ameri- ca . Since the release of New Business Models in the Digital Age, which pointed out several standard purchasing models, approximately 13 new eBook purchasing models2 have been identified in just the last 12 months that are being used in libraries around the world, some with notable success . Readers of this year’s report will be shown the key aspects of these models within this context of constant evolution as well as what makes them special . Self-publishing is another model that continues to grow, and the figures surrounding the number of users, readers, and sales as well as the number of new platforms and services dedicated to self-publishing suggest that it is much more than a passing fad . In the last few years, the Internet has transformed the business models and the organization of companies in many different sectors, and the cultural sector is no exception to this process of structural transformation . Readers who are familiar with the first edition of this report will find that certain sections have changed little . This is because the information on some of the examples described is still valid and is in fact key to understanding the development, though not the evolution, of certain business models . The same way this updated version will discuss the shift certain startups and companies mentioned in the previous version have made to other models, there are many other cases in which companies have remained unchanged . This does not mean that their business models do not work, seeing how most changes in the digital world often happen at breakneck speed, but rather the opposite . It means that their particular models are actually working for them and evolving, albeit at a slower rate, which in the end is synonymous with how successful companies operate . For these companies, the old adage is true that “No news is good news .” For the second year running, the aim of this report is to provide book-world professionals, whether publishers, agents, authors, booksellers, or librarians, with a broad analysis of the business models currently available on the Internet so that they may determine where their business opportunities lie and what the benefits of each of these models are for their particular companies . 1 http://www .dosdoce .com/2015/04/30/las-oportunidades-del-libro-digital-para-la-edicion-en-espanol/ 2 http://www .dosdoce .com/2015/09/18/guia-de-modelos-de-compras-de-licencias-de-ebooks-para-bibliotecas-y-editoriales/ 3 Online licensing solutions TRANSVERSAL TENDENCIES THAT SHAPE BUSINESS MODELS While researching new business models and examples of good practices, it was noted how, in the last year, the transversal tendencies that shape business models have also gone through their own transformation . Some of these changes that have appeared on the digital commerce horizon include mCommerce, Big Data, customer personalization, the search for new sales channels, the internationalization of companies, and the push for a European digital single market . Also part of this transformation are mobile payments, which are currently being researched and developed by the likes of Apple, Google and several of the major banks in an effort to come out ahead of their competitors, and ways to analyze consumers’ online search and purchasing habits . Experts have said that the higher a country’s rate of digitalization, the greater its chances of increasing its per capita GDP and its human development index, which is why the European Commission’s Digital Agenda is actively promoting digitalization among its member states . BEYOND SINGLE-UNIT SALES: NEW BUSINESS MODELS Like it or not, the way culture is being created, accessed, and consumed is itself going through a historical trans- formation . In the next few years, consumers will have never-before-imagined access to staggering amounts of user-generated information and knowledge which will require a reorganization of the cultural sector . Faced with new ways of creating, accessing, and consuming culture, professionals in the book world will need to reflect on what type of business models they need to be able to respond to this new style of consumerism . The description of the business models analyzed in this report is meant to provide companies and organizations in the cultural sector with a clearer view of the advantages and disadvantages these models may have in their par- ticular cases . Clearly, not all readers are willing to purchase a subscription package regardless of how appealing its content or price may be, and not everyone wants to take part in a crowdfunding campaign either . The aim behind this report is to be able to provide readers with a broader view of the multiple opportunities that the new business models in the digital age have to offer and to resolve any of their doubts and help dispel any preconceptions they may have . More importantly, it is hoped that readers will reflect on how to begin to integrate these models into their business strategies, whether they represent a publishing company, a bookstore, a library, a university, an online store, a distribution platform, or a media outlet . Before delving into the report itself, the authors would like to thank the management at Centro Español de Dere- chos Reprográficos (Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre – CEDRO) for their financial support in making this report an essential resource for book-world professionals to read and reflect upon . 4 Online licensing solutions 1. Digital Business Models 5 Online licensing solutions If there is something that defines the digital economy it is its need to seek out new business models and to com- bine them in a way that best meets companies’ intended goals . Since most of these new business models are blended, which is to say combinations of several models, it is difficult to classify them as belonging to one specific category or another . The new digital economy is based on this idea of blended models, on the absence of a single fixed model, which is easy to imagine given the Internet’s fluid nature, and on business relationships built through platforms . While reading about the companies discussed in this report, it is therefore important to remain open to the possibilities that blended models offer and not to confuse them with the more inflexible models often associated with the an- alog or physical world . It must be understood that, when adapting business models to the digital arena, these models will all either evolve or merge with other models . Below is an infographic that quickly, orderly, and visually presents and summarizes the different business models3 that will be discussed shortly, including the types of licenses that are available to libraries, which has its own section .