Business Model Musings for Cultural Engagement

The business model is dictated through an observation of what potentially might work, as this has not been validated in actual experience.  One of the concerns that many of the arts organizations had was that in a limited world of time and money, both the MetroCode and the PocketCINE did not stand out in terms of what would be "high value at low cost" to the participating arts organizations.  They perceived it as an initiative that would take time away from other resources and could potentially cost more than they had. 

One of our issues was that the budget that we had for each project was relatively modest, which should have allowed for several projects to occur, but in fact the concern from the organizations often was that the money was not enough.  

It is a truth that in many arts organizations trying to help a small project is a lot harder than doing a large project, just simply because the time and resources are almost the same for a small or large project in terms of the financial reporting that are required.  

However, that being said, the business model really needs to be based around a service that is easily accessible and as much self-service as possible.  I personally felt that a MetroCode model where somebody could upload and create their own MetroCodes using a simple web based interface, uploading their audio or video files in a fast and convenient way, could be an excellent model. 

Hopefully with some of the new technologies coming from Ubiquity Interactive people will have more opportunity to self-serve, and that is a good indication of how to kind of move forward.  The other aspect is obviously working with the carriers.  Many of the ways in which revenue can be gained, such as a revenue share, cannot be done without the carriers, which is a problem that needs to be addressed as well.