[hrothgar]

As I noted in an earlier post, I'm interested in getting my hands on a copy of an old Bridge World article titled Hobgoblin which dates back to sometime in the early 1980s. This soon brought to mind one of my theories about media licensing models in a digital world.

Right now, the Bridge World magazine owns all of the rights to 1001 old issues of the Bridge World. Most of the articles and content that was prepared with such loving care will never achieve any kind of widespread distribution. A few people will sell (and resell) old copies of the Bridge World back and forth to one another until the pages collapse into dust. But most of us won't have any decent way to see those articles. (Personally, I'd like to have a complete set of the Bridge World, but I don't have room to store that many magazine nor time to care for them)

I propose the following: Lets enter into negotiations with the owners of the Bridge World and find out how much the rights to the backlog of old issues would cost. Our intention is to place the publishing rights to this information into the public domain using a “Creative Commons” type license. The license would allow anyone to redistribute this information using whatever means they saw fit. Hypothetically, I could create a 10 CD set that contains every single article published in every issues of the Bridge World and sell these for $8.50 out of the trunk of my care. Alternatively, Joe Bob could redistribute a “Best of” the Master's Solvers club via Bit Torrent while Frieda could develop an Internet quiz based on old Challenge the Champs hands. The important thing is to separate the ownership rights for the content from the mechanism used to distribute the information.

I'd propose a model in which the owners of the Bridge World set a reservation price for their old issues. This reservation price should be (roughly) equivalent to the discount present value of the future cash flows that they expect to generate selling surplus inventory or creating new products using this content. (In theory, Rubens could try to pull a “New Yorker” and create/sell a CD that contains scanned versions of all the old magazines. In practice, I have no idea what he's planning). Once the Bridge World has established their reservation price, we go and see whether we can raise enough money... I envision a secure web site where people can pledge funds. If / when we achieve critical mass, the money gets collected and handed over to the Bridge World.

Long term, I'd argue that the Bridge World would be better off adopting a similar model for new content. Rubens should set a reservation cost for his services in creating 12 new issues of the Bridge World. If folks fork over the money, he'll facilitate the production of an addition year's worth of the magazine. However, this is another story.

[csdenmark]

Looks like there a lot of backissues available incl. a complete set for your requested 1980 edition.

As there are so many copies available 25-40 years back looks to me as an evidence of small demand.

[cherdano]

I like this idea a lot, and would be willing to help if it makes sense.

[FrancesHinden]

I like the idea.
I would like something much simpler: the back catalogue to be scanned in (assuming they don't exist in electronic form) and you can buy back issues, back articles, back whatever... as pdf files.

The problem is that it becomes virtually impossible to control redistribution of these. I know at the moment you can photocopy old issues, but that's tougher.

[keylime]

On paper looks really good.

[hrothgar]

csdenmark, on Dec 27 2006, 06:35 PM, said:

Looks like there a lot of backissues available incl. a complete set for your requested 1980 edition.

As there are so many copies available 25-40 years back looks to me as an evidence of small demand.

I have no idea what the large number of back issues shows:

It could mean that the Bridge World consistantly invests in excessive print runs.
It could mean that the Bridge World prices its back issues too high.
It could mean that people don't like to use storage space for old magazines.

Maybe no cares about the data contained in any of these articles.

But, it might be worth investigating.

[glen]

hrothgar, on Dec 27 2006, 11:59 PM, said:

I have no idea what the large number of back issues shows:

It could mean that the Bridge World consistently invests in excessive print runs.

Yes

hrothgar, on Dec 27 2006, 11:59 PM, said:

It could mean that the Bridge World prices its back issues too high.

No, not quite old issues

hrothgar, on Dec 27 2006, 11:59 PM, said:

It could mean that people don't like to use storage space for old magazines.

No, they generally like to keep them, until they die. At that point, a new set of older issues often goes on the market.

Sadly a lot of the Bridge World subscriber base is getting quite old.

hrothgar, on Dec 27 2006, 11:59 PM, said:

Maybe no cares about the data contained in any of these articles.  But, it might be worth investigating.

Certainly the content will have value. (imo) Bridge World would likely be willing to consider an offer for anything a decade old, or older, as repackaging some content as books has not been a commercial success, but getting readership of the older material might attract new subscribers. The reason for not releasing the rights to anything more recent would be to avoid eroding their current subscriber base by providing the content free in a relative short time from original publication.

[Gerben42]

I'd be interested in that sort of thing too. I recently looked at some 15-year-old BW magazines and these look interesting. The problem with these back-issues is that for me they are interesting enough to be read, but not interesting enough to buy in paper format.

If they would be available online you could also let people read just a part of it for a buck or something. Making it all digital would also be of interest to the Bridge World in my opinion.

[pclayton]

A few comments.

I wouldnt worry too much about redistribution. Its not like a 1986 Bridge World is like a mp3 copy of a Snoop song.

I think folks would gladly pay $100 - $200 for a user license that allows viewing of the library of all issues. Could people give their user name / password to others? Certainly, but I doubt abuses would be widespread. I also think you could track IPs of the users as well.

There needs to be a significant lag between the print issues and the digital library. 20 years seems too long and 5 years seems too short. Perhaps 10 years is right.

BBO sells Bridgemaster articles, maybe BBO is the right venue for the distribution?

[pigpenz]

They have put all the old issues of National Geographic on DVD/CD's that would be the easiet....the only problem you have its a little harder to take the computer to the crapper with you

[hrothgar]

pclayton, on Dec 28 2006, 10:50 PM, said:

A few comments.

I wouldnt worry too much about redistribution. Its not like a 1986 Bridge World is like a mp3 copy of a Snoop song.

I think folks would gladly pay $100 - $200 for a user license that allows viewing of the library of all issues. Could people give their user name / password to others? Certainly, but I doubt abuses would be widespread. I also think you could track IPs of the users as well.

There needs to be a significant lag between the print issues and the digital library. 20 years seems too long and 5 years seems too short. Perhaps 10 years is right.

BBO sells Bridgemaster articles, maybe BBO is the right venue for the distribution?

Digital goods present a real problem for economists.

According to economists, the price of a good is determined by the cost of production. In a perfectly competitive market Price = Marginal Cost. If the a good is prices significantly above marginal cost this demonstrates some kind of market imperfection. Hypotethically, you might have a monopoly jacking up the prices. Alternatively, a customers might have gotten suckered in by an advertizing campaign and now beleive that coke is much better than generic cola. In some cases, search cost is sufficiently high that people don't shop arround for a bargin.

Digital goods are characterized by very high fixed costs relative to their variable cost. Consider a hypothetical PDF version of the October 1968 issue of the Bridge World: It took a lot of time and effort to write the original articles. Its going to require a fiar bit of work to transfer this data to a PDF file. However, once this has been done the marginal cost of creating an additional copy is, for all intents and purposes, zero.

I would argue that the logical consequence is that the "price" for a digitial copy should be free. Lets see if we can raise enough money to transfer the copyrights into the public domain. If we can, great. I'm sure that some sort of distribution scheme will work itself out. If not, oh well.

However, investing all sorts of extra time and effort in order to build/license a complex digitial rights management scheme so we can sell individual copies of the old articles for three cents each is insane.

[hrothgar]

BTW

I talked to Jeff Rubens this morning. The Bridge World occasionally recycles its older material, so they aren't interested in releasing any of the copyrights.

I specifically asked about selling these rights, but didn't see much enthusiasm.

[inquiry]

hrothgar, on Dec 29 2006, 11:19 AM, said:

BTW

I talked to Jeff Rubens this morning. The Bridge World occasionally recycles its older material, so they aren't interested in releasing any of the copyrights.

I specifically asked about selling these rights, but didn't see much enthusiasm.

Well if BW is not covering the world, we (with Fred and Uday's permission), should probably start a "Bridge Base Magazine"... with more global scope. Coverage of upcoming and past vugraphs, discussion of different bidding methods, and the like. Of course, that might mess up the nice arrangement BBW has with BBO... but it would be a thought. We certainly have access to all the hands played globally.

I know okbridge has a spectator thingee... we should be able to at least beat that....

[csdenmark]

hrothgar, on Dec 29 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

BTW

I talked to Jeff Rubens this morning.  The Bridge World occasionally recycles its older material, so they aren't interested in releasing any of the copyrights.

I specifically asked about selling these rights, but didn't see much enthusiasm.

Richard copy rights is about much else than just economy of a individual items. If you want to buy their rights you are asking them so sell their image, their brand, their core value. You must prepare to take over the company as a whole. Ready for that? We no longer talk about $100-200 for outdated stuff I am sure you know.

[hrothgar]

csdenmark, on Dec 29 2006, 09:21 PM, said:

hrothgar, on Dec 29 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

BTW

I talked to Jeff Rubens this morning.  The Bridge World occasionally recycles its older material, so they aren't interested in releasing any of the copyrights.

I specifically asked about selling these rights, but didn't see much enthusiasm.

Richard copy rights is about much else than just economy of a individual items. If you want to buy their rights you are asking them so sell their image, their brand, their core value. You must prepare to take over the company as a whole. Ready for that? We no longer talk about $100-200 for outdated stuff I am sure you know.

Here's the thing

I don't have the slightest interest in being editor or owner of the Bridge World. I don't think that I have the requisite skill set nor do I have enough time (I have my own startup that I'm slowly getting off the ground and quickly starting to burn up large chunks of time)...

As for the Bridge World's image/brand/core values.

The one and only thing that the Bridge World has going for it is a reputation for creating interesting content. The Bridge World will continue to find an audience so long as

(A) This reputation stays intact
(B) People place a value on this type of content

I would argue that opening up the Bridge World archives would help the BW increase the size of its user base. I doubt that it would do anything to degrade its reputation.

One could argue that make old articiles available for free would make folks less likely to pay for a subscription for new content. Hard to say whether or not this is true. Personally, I think that the Bridge World would do better switching to a model in which it solicted a fixed amount of funds in exchange for an agreement to produce an additional year of new content. The model works quite well for National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting here in the US. There are a few newpapers that are consisdering adopting similar types of models.

Your milage may vary.

[csdenmark]

inquiry, on Dec 29 2006, 07:37 PM, said:

Well if BW is not covering the world, we (with Fred and Uday's permission), should probably start a "Bridge Base Magazine"... with more global scope. Coverage of upcoming and past vugraphs, discussion of different bidding methods, and the like. Of course, that might mess up the nice arrangement BBW has with BBO... but it would be a thought. We certainly have access to all the hands played globally.

I know okbridge has a spectator thingee... we should be able to at least beat that....

Tough job Ben! The domain 'bridgeFILES.net' will be at your disposal for an initiative.