about

This blog sits at the intersection of culture, commerce, and copyright.

Technology and networked societies are turning Econ 101 principles on their head.
How do supply and demand work when a digital commodity can be reproduced in infinite perfect copies? How can we freely produce original content from mashups and remixes of old content? How do we make money in the new “free” economy? How do creativity and innovation thrive in a world of narrowing intellectual property law?

These new business models certainly affect the big guys – big business, Hollywood, record companies – but it’s really the little guys who captivate me, the independent workers with big dreams and small resources.

These are the people putting the “indie” in indienomics.

Whether musicians, coders, social activists, or stay-at-home moms, these indie workers are redefining the rules of production, marketing, and distribution. Many owe the success of their entrepreneurial ventures to tools from the open-source web. Sometimes the goal is financial gain; more often, the goal is a sense of fulfillment beyond the monetary realm.

Whenever the next big thing hits the web, people often ask, perplexed:
“How do these people make money??”

This blog seeks to answer that question, and another, deeper one:
“How do these people make a life?”