SIIA Keynote: Fred Wilson video
Fred Wilson was the keynote speaker at Monday's SIIA Previews.
Provocatively, Fred's topic was "Should Content Be Free", particularly in that it immediately preceded a panel of companies in the DRM/content protection space.
You can see the streaming video of Fred's entire keynote here. Thanks to Peter Cervieri at Scribe Media and the SIIA for making this available.
The themes raised by Fred are not new, particularly to those of you who read his blog regularly. That said, it was a comprehensive view of where the content business is headed. Key takeaway: as information moves towards becoming free and the supply becomes near infinite, then the money is in "attention". I don't typically watch 18 minute videos (Colbert and the Daily Show excepted), but this one is well worth making time for.
For those without the time to watch it, Fred reprised his "future of media" post. Successful content providers need to:
- Microchunk it
- Free it
- Syndicate it
- Monetize it (put the monetization and tracking systems into the microchunks so you can see how the content is being used).
Fred also reiterated his love of the Freemium business model. He also used a few of his portfolio companies as examples of things that are being done right. I was pleased that a few Alacra products were included in the Q&A discussion. (And who says board members don't add value?)
In closing, Fred believes that "free will pay", quoting Stewart Brand in that "...information in the right place and the right context changes your life". But, the idea of DRM-cocooned subscription content will go away. Pay-per-view and advertising models will be the way to build content businesses going forward.
And, of course, since information wants to be free, you can grab a copy of Fred's slides over at the Union Square Ventures blog.
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