Well, he had to practice what he’s preaching. Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, whose Long Tail follow-up Free describes the freemium business model, is releasing versions of the title for free…
— UK publisher Random House, at the launch event last week and in an upcoming promo with BrandRepublic.com, is giving away free abridged paperback versions of the book.
Anderson says that’s “in association with Adobe” – the exact relationship there isn’t detailed but it’s basically subsidization of the sort we’ll assume is dissected in the book when it hits shelves Tuesday. Anderson does say: “This special sponsored paperback edition is the entire book minus, if memory serves, the appendixes.”
— And European streaming music service du jour Spotify is hosting the three-hour audio book, narrated by Anderson, to both its free and premium UK users, saying Anderson “has had a great influence on Spotify … The Long Tail, has been required reading in our office since day one”. The title may even be a new business line for the service as it looks to add enough value to its premium line-up that people will pay its £9.99-a-month ad-free subscription: “We