I want it all, I want it now, I want it free!

I suspect I have heard my title somewhere before, but i can't put my finger on where or when. Essentially my title refers to what the consumer in our current age wants. The questions at this time of recession is as to whether it is really feasible for the consumer to get all their wants fulfilled.

What is happening to the media can be easily compared to what is taking place, or has already taken place in the music industry. The consumer has found through the internet they don't really have to pay for high quality content/music that they are getting, and now don't expect to pay for that content/music and this has left the media/record labels in some what of a bind as this content still costs a great deal to provide.  Our recent lecturer Rick Waghorn, of My Football Writer, paraphrased it that consumers "Want the news in the palm of their hand for free."

So where does this leave the media industry in the current economic climate, with advertising revenue falling massively. Since the consumer doesn't want to pay for their content, media companies must rely on advertising to make a profit, or even break even. As advertising revenue is also falling, this is seeing many media companies folding, and massive job cuts in others. The paying model has not previously worked but increasingly people are arguing this may be the only viable option for the media, or as Jemima Kiss argues the only option an investor may back for media start ups. I would disagree with Jemima and instead am inclined to agree with Shane Richmond who is inclined to think the pay for model is not a viable alternative.

I wonder if the model provided by the spot.us could be a potential solution to many problems. The ways this site works is quite simple in that an article idea is suggested to the community and people volunteer to pledge money for the story to be reported (this is explained slightly better on the about tab).  The community can also 'tip' what they think could be a good story to be reported. Spot.us would also tackle some earlier issues I have brought up for investigative journalism online. It certainly seems that innovative new methods such as this are more likely to succed than attempting to charge for content, as Shane Richmond pointed out this is certainly true in the UK where the BBC is always going to be a free competitor (even if it has a hidden subscription fee of sorts in the license fee).