Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software

by Nadia Asparouhova

In a two-sided market, paying subscribers subsidize all of the content for nonpaying readers, under the assumption that creators aren’t actually selling content but a sense of membership and identity. Instead of charging, say, all 100,000 readers ten cents to read an article, creators can instead give away the article for free, but charge 1,000 extra-dedicated subscribers ten dollars per year. Journalist Tim Carmody, for example, subsidizes his newsletter Amazon Chronicles this way.363 Paying subscribers make it possible for him to offer the newsletter for free to everyone: The most powerful and interesting media model will remain raising money from members who don’t just permit but insist that the product be given away for free. The value comes not just what [sic] they’re buying, but who they’re buying it from and who gets to enjoy it. The bigger those two pools get—the bigger the membership, and the bigger the audience—the better it gets for everyone. . . . PBS as a service.364