Giving away free stuff on the internet is either the best thing ever or the worst from a business standpoint. In this post I’m going to look at the benefits of a price point so low it’s nonexistent for various types of digital media. The following post picks up right where the previous one left off.

If you’re not in a throw away industry free can be a very good thing. When your business is built on brand loyalty, curiosity and repeat customers, free samples are a valuable tool. It’s the old “hey kid the first one’s free but if you want the second, third or forth you’re going to have to pay” play.

Hey kid the first one’s free but if you want the second, third or forth you’re going to have to pay…

When I am broke I rely on the library like a lifeline and I’ll consume absolutely every single volume in their fiction section without my usual discerning tastes – because I don’t have to worry about the price. Every romance novel I’ve ever read cover to cover was free. Over the years I’ve found some really amazing writers that I would never have noticed if their books hadn’t been readily available at a local library, entirely for free.

After they’ve got me hooked and I’ve got a little money in my pocket, I never fail to look these authors up and buy more of their works, and that – is the benefit of free. Sometimes it’ll let you reach fans that would never have plunked down money for you before they’d had that first sweet taste.

Free can be the worst thing ever or the best thing ever, it depends on your perspective and your product. It’s best to know what the potential benefits and downsides might be before attempting a foray into the politics of free. There’s even hope for those in the throw away industries like porn (fetish titles make a reasonable profit and are pirated less than straight porn – you do not disrespect your Dom/inatrix like that) you just have to find a way to make people come back for more than a scene or even a single video.