FairPay

Current information on FairPay is now at FairPayZone.com:

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      More details / Guide to selected posts

 

(This page contains older material that is partially updated.)

 

 

FairPay Application/Market Segments
(Working Paper in progress)

The following is a work-in-progress that seeks to catalog an overview of major market segments in which FairPay is readily applicable, with some notes as to the various forms it might take.  Initial emphasis is on digital media content and services.

See More Details on FairPay for a guide to relevant posts with more detail.

Digital Powers

Some large companies have a broad digital media presence that spans multiple market segments.  Such firms might build a FairPay platform for their own use, and for use by others, having rich and varied features.  Some of these business are now free, some are paid.
(See blog posts listed by segment below.)

Examples:
Amazon -- Store, Prime, Affiliates, Payments
Google -- YouTube, Checkout, App Store
Apple -- iTunes Store
News Corp -- MySpace, Wall Street Journal, Hulu, Fox, ...

Newpapers, Magazines, other editorial

These are text-centered publishers, with ancillary images and video.  Most are currently free (typically ad-supported), but many have moved to paid freemium models ("soft paywalls").  Some avoid posting content online for fear of losing print revenue. 

Examples:
The New York Times (basic, plus premium Insider service)
The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription)
Piano platform (free+paid infrastructure for newspapers)
CondeNast Digital (family of magazines, some content free, some not online)

Video

These range from major Internet video sites like YouTube and Hulu, to specialty sites, to other providers like cable TV services (with both cable and Internet distribution).  Many are currently free (typically ad-supported), but many are moving to paid models.  Some charge now.

Examples:
YouTube (Google) (free)
Hulu (free plus paid)
Netflix (paid)
Time Warner
CBS
Disney
HBO
Cable, Telco, and Satellite TV distributors

Music

Music was perhaps the first content business face the creative destruction of digital media on large scale, and the industry continues to seek better business models and pricing models (and contain rampant piracy).  Artists like Radiohead and Amanda Palmer have gone on their own with PWYW pricing experiments, with modest success.  FairPay could transform how music is sold by labels, and other aggregators, and by artists, possibly through shared indie distribution services.

Examples:
Distributors/Aggregators (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Rhapsody, Pandora, ...)
Studios/Labels
Artists

Games

Much like music, digital games are also struggling with pricing and piracy, and have experimented with PWYW. FairPay could transform how games are sold by distributors, and other aggregators, and by developers, possibly through shared indie distribution services. FairPay is also applicable to in-app purshcases.

E-books

E-book pricing and business models have been a subject of continuing contention between distributors, publishers and authors. FairPay could transform this industry, by making pricing more flexible, and changing competition from price-based to service/feature based.

Examples:
Distributors/Aggregators (Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Sony, Google, ...)
Publishers
Authors

Software and Apps

Software and "Apps" have long struggled with free, paid, and piracy, and have used a cousin of PWYW, Pay-If-You-Want (shareware, which has a pre-set but voluntary price) with modest success.  The emergence of App Stores has added  a new level of aggregator/distributor and made free an even stronger force.  FairPay supports reasonable revenue generation, while offering the low purchase barriers of free and shareware, and FairPay reputations can be collected and applied across an App Store to benefit all merchants using the store.

Examples:
Apps/Widgets (Apple, Google, Verizon, Yahoo, ...)
PC software packages
Shareware/Open source
Software as a Service (SaaS)

Other services, including Non-profits / Charities

Many Web (and non-Web) services are free, and supported by ads or are non-profits supported by donations, and many use freemium models.  FairPay is especially well-suited to non-profits, as  a way to link "donations" and "memberships" to value received by users (combined with ability/willingness to pay).  FairPay might potentially enable new hybrids/intermediates of profit, non-profit, and socially-responsible organizations/enterprises.  This may also include non-Web services promoted/paid via the Web.

Examples:
Wikipedia
Combination offers including a charitable component
Memberships to museums, etc.

B2B

Business-to-business services also have significant issues with pricing for digital products/services, and market segmentation.  These generally involve higher price points for which FairPay models might involve higher value-at risk, but there are many opportunities to broaden markets with limited use of FairPay.  For example, academic/scientific publishers that charge very high single copy rates for articles might use FairPay to expand their market for light-use segments, including consumers and small businesses. Also for digital services to SMB segments.

Examples:
Academic/scientific publishers (Elsevier, McGraw-Hill, IEEE, HBS press, ...)

Payments and Infrastructure

Payment service providers are well positioned to add FairPay offer/sale/pricing/reputation services to their payment services offered to merchants.  Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software/infrastructure providers are also positioned to extend their offerings to support FairPay.  Cross-vendor FairPay reputation services could significantly increase the power of FairPay reputations.

Examples:
Credit card services (AmericanExpress, Visa, Mastercard, ...)
Alternative payment services (PayPal, Google Payments, Apple Pay...)
Specialized monetization service providers (TrialPay, JulySystems)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software/infrastructure providers (Zuora, IBM, SAP, Oracle, ...)

Physical products

While the near-zero marginal cost of digital products and services is especially suited to FairPay models, physical products might also benefit. Taht could apply to products with low marginal cost, or minimum prices could be set to enable use of FairPay for more costly items. This might also include products and services that are adjuncts to higher cost products/services, such as warranty service.

Examples:
DVD distribution (Netflix. Redbox, ...)
Appliance warranty services (Apple, HP, Sony, Samsung, ...)
Artisanal products (Etsy, ...)


Note
:  Many of the above businesses have significant instances of free, freemium, PWYW or similar models that make free an option.  Those businesses might be especially good candidates for experimenting with FairPay models, since they already incur the risks of no/low payment.

(Working Draft 7/19/10, partial rev 12/14/15)

 

FairPay

Current information on FairPay is now at FairPayZone.com:

    ●  Overview of FairPay

      Blog

      More details / Guide to selected posts