Feel the Force for Free

05-12-2008 | 02:27 PM EST

Okay, all you Star Wars fans out there, time is running out! For a very limited time only, you can get your hands on a free, complete copy of Betrayal, (the latest installation in the STAR WARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: BETRAYAL series). You've got to hurry, though, because this free dose of the force expires tomorrow, May 13, 2008 at midnight.

In an effort to promote this latest publication, Del Rey Books is making Betrayal available to the public for a limited time in an Adobe PDF, Audiobook, Amazon Kindle e-book, or Sony Reader e-book format. You can get your free copy at http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/starwars/sw_legacy.html. So far as I can tell, there isn't much information about what you are or aren't allowed to do with your free copy aside from the copyright notice on page six of the PDF — which doesn't really say anything specific about any limitations put on the free version. My guess, though, is that this work is simply free in cost but not free in any sort of Creative Commons or GNU Free Documentation License sense.

This seems like a growing trend as experimental business models become the fashion of the day. In the music world, both R.E.M. and Pennywise made their most recent albums free of cost for a limited time. (Interestingly, both albums made it into the top fifteen ranks on the sales charts.) Nine Inch Nails took things one step further when they released their new album, The Slip, free of cost and under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial. Nine Inch Nails actually encourages you to share the album and re-distribute it with friends or however you see fit, and they also encourage re-mixes and the free distribution of those as well. The move, labeled as a "Thank You" to their fans, may not be all that surprising given the $750,000 success of their last "giveaway" and the band's long history with trying out new ways to do business.

Unfortunately, some people still don't get it. Rather than supporting their fanbases and encouraging people to interact with their art on a more meaningful level, some content creators choose to silence their fans — their biggest supporters. Such was the case when BBC Worldwide decided to send Mazzmatazz (a Dr Who fansite posting knitting patterns of Dr Who monsters) a takedown notice. Keep in mind, Mazzmatazz was offering these patterns for free simply as a way for fans to connect with the show they love on another level. I doubt this will cause any fans to quit watching the show, but it certainly is causing some bad press for BBC Worldwide.

I understand that keeping incredibly tight controls over their brand is simply the way many large corporations still operate. But, as many new and dynamic content creators begin to distribute their work and interact with the public in a more open way and as people get used to and begin to demand this type of freedom, institutions like BBC Worldwide may want to consider whether their efforts don't make their brand seem outdated, lacking, and ultimately irrelevant.

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