The signs of media times

In a previous blog post I had expressed some concerns about internet sites & platforms that offer free content services like Myspace, that at some bleak point in the future they might stop running their business free of charge. Now the signs seem closer to reality without personally sponsoring a catastrophic prophecy for online users. In recent media industry news, New York Times (one of the biggest and most attractive sites in terms of its readers & visitors) will start providing some articles for free while charging users that want to read more, using some kind of metering system. If you think what this has to do in relation to your favorite music site, I would answer that there in not much of a difference when you consider for example that  News Corporation, which also owns & runs Myspace, includes news sites too in its various media branches These critical decisions could be applied to all of News Corporation's internet business.

The free content, the delicate fruit of the internet age, could no longer be available in the not so distant future, or be replaced by paywalls that monetize the exclusive content that users value the most. I hope I will prove wrong but if subscription models & online advertising are not working at sustainable levels for a high traffic site like the New York Times, imagine the negative effects down the online media pyramid. It seems that everything ends even in the media world.

-Stathis Kassios