One thing that struck me about the discussion of business models was how future business models for monetising content may depend on goodwill and trust. Cory Ondrejka talked about variations of payment in which people willing to pay even when they could get the content for free as long as there was the right price – this would include Rhapsody, the subscription-based music system, as well as tip jar systems.

All these made me think, how much does the concept of paying even when you get it for free depend on the convenience of the service (the same way I use iTunes to buy my music, because it’s so easy to download songs from the service), and how much depends on the goodwill idea of paying the creator for content, similar to dropping money into a busker’s hat? Take the tip-jar concept, for example: by the point you’re tipping, you would have viewed the entire content, so the entire payment is based on goodwill. Now how much is this like the Annalakshmi restaurants, where you pay a combination of how much you think your meal was worth and what you can afford? I’ve certainly given a tip to websites and blogs that have entertained me, but is this kind of behaviour necessarily very common?

And how much does goodwill and trust extend beyond borders? Would someone from China, say, be less willing to give money to content creators from Hollywood – whether because they are from a different culture, or because there’s a perception that Hollywood stars are much wealthier?

And how much does it depend on the existence of a tipping culture? If we’re used to paying service charges rather than tipping, can a tipping system work?
It’s one thing to work based on trust with fellow workers. But how much can one trust the consumer? I think we can, but I think that’s one of the things at the heart of some discomfort with new business models.