In his review of Chris Anderson’s ‘Free’ and its thesis that “making money around Free will be the future of business” Malcolm Gladwell writes:
“The only iron law here is the one too obvious to write a book about, which is that the digital age has so transformed the ways in which things are made and sold that there are no iron laws.”
Whilst Gladwell’s response would seem to be too obvious to be necessary, unfortunately even such a measured, rational reaction is enough to rile certain elements. The problem Gladwell makes is he is trying to have a rational debate on what is basically a very successful marketing ploy: simplify a complicated topic and market yourself as its guru. The column-inches Anderson has gained show his success. There will, however, be a large number of readers who (like me) get exasperated by his over simplification and promotion of himself as the guru.
I started filling the margins of my copy of ‘Free’ with a variety of swear words on pg. 4:
“…Surely economics must have something to say about this, I thought. But I couldn’t find anything. No theories of gratis, or pricing models that went to zero. (In fairness, some do exist, as later research would re-veal. But they were mostly obscure academic discussions of “two- sided markets” and, as we’ll see in the economics chapter, nearly forgotten theories from the nineteenth century.)”
Obviously it wouldn’t be fair to knock someone for their inability to understand the Dewey decimal system, but Anderson then goes on to quote liberally from Predictably Irrational. ‘Predictably irrational’ is about as far from obscure academic discussion as you can get. It happens to be written by an academic, but very much a book in the popular science genre. Even more annoyingly he goes on to criticise the work as: “…directionally interesting rather than rigorously quantitative…” He makes sweeping statements left, right and centre, and then has the nerve to criticise the rigorousness of a perfectly acceptable academic pieces of work!
However, here I find myself falling into the same trap as Gladwell, arguing with the content rather than viewing it as a promotional device for Anderson. Whilst I’m sure Anderson expects to make a lot of money from the book, he also has his eye firmly on the increase in his fee for public speaking, and as such the book does a great job of marketing Anderson as the guru of ‘Free’.
Does this book turn “traditional economics upside down” ? Not really.
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I’ve been reading Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody” this month, and I must say, Anderson’s book sounds like too little, too late. We’ve already had Benkler’s “Wealth of Networks” (2006), numerous books by Lessig, Jenkins’s brilliant and highly readable “Convergence Culture,” and Shirky’s remarkably straightforward “Everybody” (2008). I can’t see any evidence in the promotional copy or in the reviews that Anderson has anything new to add.
As for his claim that he could find “[n]o theories of gratis, or pricing models that went to zero” — I guess he hasn’t read Benkler, Jenkins or Shirky. In that case, how can we consider him any kind of an authority on his topics?
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Chris Anderson isn’t an academic and doesn’t write like one. The funny thing is that I actually think Chris is in the mold of Malcolm Gladwell, a writer who cherry picks facts and stories to suit his general thesis but in general overlooks nuance in favor of developing a master theory… Having said that there is a role of people like Chris Anderson and books like ‘Free’.
They provide an overview on a topic, which is great for people new to the topic!
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I found it exasperating too.
There is nothing new there, and the historical detail used to pad out the very thin argument simplify serves to show that far from being some wonderful new economic model it’s just the same old approach again – give something for free in the hope that people will buy something else that covers the cost of both.
He also largely ignores the fact that although the marginal cost of distribution may be so low as to be insignificant, that doesn’t reduce the original cost of development and production – even for digital items.
The addendum that points out – and this may be a cruel paraphrase – that since the recession none of that free stuff stands up any more – is, er, priceless.
I agree with everything said here – while he’s not saying anything new to those of us who follow this, he is writing a populist book about new business models, not an academic one. Benkler’s book is incredible, and much better – but Anderson’s is more accessible and clear if that’s what you’re after. Horses for courses – I’d probably end up giving students both chapters.
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