Money Making

Yet Another Study Shows Musicians Making More Money

from the well,-look-at-that dept

We've made the argument repeatedly that saying unauthorized file sharing is hurting the music business lacks evidence. Instead, what we've seen, over and over again, is that more money is pouring into the music business, more music is being produced and (most importantly) that more musicians who embrace this new world are doing better than they would have otherwise. Now, we've pointed to research in the UK, Sweden and the US that have all shown aggregate growth for the music business, with some of the numbers suggesting more money going directly to musicians, rather than gatekeepers.



The latest study, highlighted by TorrentFreak takes a similar look at the Norwegian music market to show very similar findings and (of course) that musicians are, indeed, benefiting:



Like the UK and Swedish studies, this study, covering Norway, found that the aggregate amount going to the industry is up slightly (4% in real terms), mostly thanks to live shows more than making up for the decline in music sales (it's important to note that these researchers appear to have modeled their research on both the UK and Swedish studies, and made only slight changes, which they explain (and justify) in the report. The key finding is that musicians appear to be making significantly more these days than in the past:

Total artist revenues have gone from NOK 208 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, which is an increase of about 162%. Excluding state subsidization, the income from 1999 to 2009 has increased with NOK 229 million, or 147%....



According to this, Norwegian artists have seen an increase in all four of their income sources during the past eleven years. This goes contrary to the common belief that artists have seen a decline in income because of the digitalization of the industry.



The loss of record sales because of consequences of the digitalization of the industry has not affected the Norwegian artists in the same brutal way as it has the record companies. Artists earn in general 20% or less from record sales, and a decrease in record sales would most likely be compensated by an increase in one or more of the other three income sources.

Now, it's worth pointing out -- as I learned when I attended Nordic Music Week last year -- that the Norwegian music industry is heavily subsidized by the government, which is one of the four revenue streams discussed above. However, that only represents about 30% of artist revenue in 2009. The largest single component -- again similar to what we've seen elsewhere -- is live revenue, which continues to grow. Even if you exclude state subsidies, the report found that Norwegian artists doubled their income in the past 11 years:

Adjusted for inflation, total artist revenue has gone from NOK 255 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, an increase of about NOK 290 million or 114%. Excluding state subsidizations, the increase has changed from NOK 192 million to NOK 386 million, which is an increase of NOK 194 million or 101% This goes to show that the artists themselves, as a group, have seen tremendous more growth than the industry as a whole.

And, yes, there are more musicians out there to split the pie, but the growth rate in the industry has increased more quickly than the growth in musicians.

Since the total number of artists in 1999 and 2009 are available to the authors, it is possible to calculate an average income from music for artists in Norway. With 3200 artists in 1999 the average income from music would be about NOK 65 000. With 4100 artists in 2009 the average income from music is about NOK 133 000, creating an increase of NOK 68 000 or 105%. Adjusted for inflation the income has increased with from about NOK 80 000 to NOK 133 000, an increase of NOK 53 000, an increase of 66%.

Overall, the results, like those in Sweden and the UK, seem to clearly debunk the repeated claims from recording industry folks (and some musicians) that artists are somehow suffering under this new setup. Now, there may absolutely be cases where artists who fail to adapt are struggling, and there's no doubt that some labels that failed to adapt are struggling -- but there's increasingly little evidence that the overall music industry or artists as a whole are suffering. All of the evidence seems to suggest that it's not file sharing that's a problem at all. More money is going into the music business. The only problems are from those in the industry too stubborn or too clueless to adapt to capture the money that's flowing in.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..

What makes a man want to amass more money than God, and once he has, keep going? For each hedge-fund manager the answers are a little bit different, and a little bit the same. From today's Bloomberg Markets we believe we have identified the four primary things that motivated Harbinger Capital founder Philip Falcone (or as readers of this blog may know him, Mr. Lisa Falcone), whose fund made $11 billion betting against subprime, to become who he is today.

We begin with a sepia-tinted moment when Falcone first leaves his Minnesota hometown, all gawky of limb and Lionel Richie of hair, to seek his fortune in the big city.

Neil Sheehy, from nearby International Falls, had offered Falcone a ride to Harvard University, which had recruited both of them to play hockey for the Crimson. The car stalled in front of Falcone’s house, and Sheehy had to restart it on a hill while Falcone’s mother and one of his sisters sobbed their goodbyes.

“It’ll be all right, Mrs. Falcone; it’ll be all right,” Sheehy recalls telling Caroline Falcone as the car chugged to life and headed east.

Falcone was one of nine, and his mother still cared that he was leaving home! This is meaningful and leads us to Motivation 1: Phil can never let his mama down.

[To wit, later: "Galloway says he once set up a meeting for Falcone with a billionaire investor who was interested in Harbinger. Falcone said he couldn’t make the meeting because he had to go see his mother."]

Immediately after leaving home, life decided to punk young Philip by showing him that even when you think that things are tough, they can always get worse.

Falcone rode to Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his feet on the dashboard because Sheehy had packed a skate-sharpening machine on the floor of the front seat... Halfway there, the roof liner came loose and showered the young men with fiberglass insulation that stuck to them as they sweated in the late.

Motivation 2: The fuck he's going to go through something like that again. He is going to kick life's ass!

Then, he did not quite fit in at school.

Falcone was wide-eyed when he arrived at Harvard in 1980, says hockey teammate Greg Olson, who’s now a dentist in Minnetonka, Minnesota. “He was a deer in the headlights,” Olson says. After recovering from the initial shock, Falcone made himself something of a campus don. Hockey teammates called him “Fashion Phil” because he cared so much about his clothes, Olson says. He had a blue, three-piece suit that he wore often, and he always wore stylish shoes.

Motivation 3: Show those jerkoffs who called him a hick and a fag who the man is.

But after graduation, he was more confident.

[Wife Lisa] was working as a model when she met Phil Falcone through mutual friends at a Manhattan restaurant in the late 1980s.

Motivation 4: GIRLS!

Of course, a hot wife and incredible financial success doesn't keep the critics at bay. If anything, it just makes them worse.

“Just because a manager got the subprime trade right, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a skilled manager,” says Brad Balter, managing partner of Balter Capital Management LLC, a Boston-based firm that invests in hedge funds for clients. “There have been several funds that benefited from that bet in 2007 whose performance was mediocre before and continues to be mediocre today.”

Motivation 5: Show those jerkoffs who suggest he is a one-hit wonder who the man is. Then show them again. And again. Until he dies.

Falcone Losing Touch Borrowing From Funds While His Investors Denied Cash

eric seiger

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

eric seiger

Yet Another Study Shows Musicians Making More Money

from the well,-look-at-that dept

We've made the argument repeatedly that saying unauthorized file sharing is hurting the music business lacks evidence. Instead, what we've seen, over and over again, is that more money is pouring into the music business, more music is being produced and (most importantly) that more musicians who embrace this new world are doing better than they would have otherwise. Now, we've pointed to research in the UK, Sweden and the US that have all shown aggregate growth for the music business, with some of the numbers suggesting more money going directly to musicians, rather than gatekeepers.



The latest study, highlighted by TorrentFreak takes a similar look at the Norwegian music market to show very similar findings and (of course) that musicians are, indeed, benefiting:



Like the UK and Swedish studies, this study, covering Norway, found that the aggregate amount going to the industry is up slightly (4% in real terms), mostly thanks to live shows more than making up for the decline in music sales (it's important to note that these researchers appear to have modeled their research on both the UK and Swedish studies, and made only slight changes, which they explain (and justify) in the report. The key finding is that musicians appear to be making significantly more these days than in the past:

Total artist revenues have gone from NOK 208 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, which is an increase of about 162%. Excluding state subsidization, the income from 1999 to 2009 has increased with NOK 229 million, or 147%....



According to this, Norwegian artists have seen an increase in all four of their income sources during the past eleven years. This goes contrary to the common belief that artists have seen a decline in income because of the digitalization of the industry.



The loss of record sales because of consequences of the digitalization of the industry has not affected the Norwegian artists in the same brutal way as it has the record companies. Artists earn in general 20% or less from record sales, and a decrease in record sales would most likely be compensated by an increase in one or more of the other three income sources.

Now, it's worth pointing out -- as I learned when I attended Nordic Music Week last year -- that the Norwegian music industry is heavily subsidized by the government, which is one of the four revenue streams discussed above. However, that only represents about 30% of artist revenue in 2009. The largest single component -- again similar to what we've seen elsewhere -- is live revenue, which continues to grow. Even if you exclude state subsidies, the report found that Norwegian artists doubled their income in the past 11 years:

Adjusted for inflation, total artist revenue has gone from NOK 255 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, an increase of about NOK 290 million or 114%. Excluding state subsidizations, the increase has changed from NOK 192 million to NOK 386 million, which is an increase of NOK 194 million or 101% This goes to show that the artists themselves, as a group, have seen tremendous more growth than the industry as a whole.

And, yes, there are more musicians out there to split the pie, but the growth rate in the industry has increased more quickly than the growth in musicians.

Since the total number of artists in 1999 and 2009 are available to the authors, it is possible to calculate an average income from music for artists in Norway. With 3200 artists in 1999 the average income from music would be about NOK 65 000. With 4100 artists in 2009 the average income from music is about NOK 133 000, creating an increase of NOK 68 000 or 105%. Adjusted for inflation the income has increased with from about NOK 80 000 to NOK 133 000, an increase of NOK 53 000, an increase of 66%.

Overall, the results, like those in Sweden and the UK, seem to clearly debunk the repeated claims from recording industry folks (and some musicians) that artists are somehow suffering under this new setup. Now, there may absolutely be cases where artists who fail to adapt are struggling, and there's no doubt that some labels that failed to adapt are struggling -- but there's increasingly little evidence that the overall music industry or artists as a whole are suffering. All of the evidence seems to suggest that it's not file sharing that's a problem at all. More money is going into the music business. The only problems are from those in the industry too stubborn or too clueless to adapt to capture the money that's flowing in.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..

What makes a man want to amass more money than God, and once he has, keep going? For each hedge-fund manager the answers are a little bit different, and a little bit the same. From today's Bloomberg Markets we believe we have identified the four primary things that motivated Harbinger Capital founder Philip Falcone (or as readers of this blog may know him, Mr. Lisa Falcone), whose fund made $11 billion betting against subprime, to become who he is today.

We begin with a sepia-tinted moment when Falcone first leaves his Minnesota hometown, all gawky of limb and Lionel Richie of hair, to seek his fortune in the big city.

Neil Sheehy, from nearby International Falls, had offered Falcone a ride to Harvard University, which had recruited both of them to play hockey for the Crimson. The car stalled in front of Falcone’s house, and Sheehy had to restart it on a hill while Falcone’s mother and one of his sisters sobbed their goodbyes.

“It’ll be all right, Mrs. Falcone; it’ll be all right,” Sheehy recalls telling Caroline Falcone as the car chugged to life and headed east.

Falcone was one of nine, and his mother still cared that he was leaving home! This is meaningful and leads us to Motivation 1: Phil can never let his mama down.

[To wit, later: "Galloway says he once set up a meeting for Falcone with a billionaire investor who was interested in Harbinger. Falcone said he couldn’t make the meeting because he had to go see his mother."]

Immediately after leaving home, life decided to punk young Philip by showing him that even when you think that things are tough, they can always get worse.

Falcone rode to Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his feet on the dashboard because Sheehy had packed a skate-sharpening machine on the floor of the front seat... Halfway there, the roof liner came loose and showered the young men with fiberglass insulation that stuck to them as they sweated in the late.

Motivation 2: The fuck he's going to go through something like that again. He is going to kick life's ass!

Then, he did not quite fit in at school.

Falcone was wide-eyed when he arrived at Harvard in 1980, says hockey teammate Greg Olson, who’s now a dentist in Minnetonka, Minnesota. “He was a deer in the headlights,” Olson says. After recovering from the initial shock, Falcone made himself something of a campus don. Hockey teammates called him “Fashion Phil” because he cared so much about his clothes, Olson says. He had a blue, three-piece suit that he wore often, and he always wore stylish shoes.

Motivation 3: Show those jerkoffs who called him a hick and a fag who the man is.

But after graduation, he was more confident.

[Wife Lisa] was working as a model when she met Phil Falcone through mutual friends at a Manhattan restaurant in the late 1980s.

Motivation 4: GIRLS!

Of course, a hot wife and incredible financial success doesn't keep the critics at bay. If anything, it just makes them worse.

“Just because a manager got the subprime trade right, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a skilled manager,” says Brad Balter, managing partner of Balter Capital Management LLC, a Boston-based firm that invests in hedge funds for clients. “There have been several funds that benefited from that bet in 2007 whose performance was mediocre before and continues to be mediocre today.”

Motivation 5: Show those jerkoffs who suggest he is a one-hit wonder who the man is. Then show them again. And again. Until he dies.

Falcone Losing Touch Borrowing From Funds While His Investors Denied Cash

eric seiger

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

eric seiger

eric seiger

eric seiger

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

eric seiger

Yet Another Study Shows Musicians Making More Money

from the well,-look-at-that dept

We've made the argument repeatedly that saying unauthorized file sharing is hurting the music business lacks evidence. Instead, what we've seen, over and over again, is that more money is pouring into the music business, more music is being produced and (most importantly) that more musicians who embrace this new world are doing better than they would have otherwise. Now, we've pointed to research in the UK, Sweden and the US that have all shown aggregate growth for the music business, with some of the numbers suggesting more money going directly to musicians, rather than gatekeepers.



The latest study, highlighted by TorrentFreak takes a similar look at the Norwegian music market to show very similar findings and (of course) that musicians are, indeed, benefiting:



Like the UK and Swedish studies, this study, covering Norway, found that the aggregate amount going to the industry is up slightly (4% in real terms), mostly thanks to live shows more than making up for the decline in music sales (it's important to note that these researchers appear to have modeled their research on both the UK and Swedish studies, and made only slight changes, which they explain (and justify) in the report. The key finding is that musicians appear to be making significantly more these days than in the past:

Total artist revenues have gone from NOK 208 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, which is an increase of about 162%. Excluding state subsidization, the income from 1999 to 2009 has increased with NOK 229 million, or 147%....



According to this, Norwegian artists have seen an increase in all four of their income sources during the past eleven years. This goes contrary to the common belief that artists have seen a decline in income because of the digitalization of the industry.



The loss of record sales because of consequences of the digitalization of the industry has not affected the Norwegian artists in the same brutal way as it has the record companies. Artists earn in general 20% or less from record sales, and a decrease in record sales would most likely be compensated by an increase in one or more of the other three income sources.

Now, it's worth pointing out -- as I learned when I attended Nordic Music Week last year -- that the Norwegian music industry is heavily subsidized by the government, which is one of the four revenue streams discussed above. However, that only represents about 30% of artist revenue in 2009. The largest single component -- again similar to what we've seen elsewhere -- is live revenue, which continues to grow. Even if you exclude state subsidies, the report found that Norwegian artists doubled their income in the past 11 years:

Adjusted for inflation, total artist revenue has gone from NOK 255 million in 1999 to NOK 545 million in 2009, an increase of about NOK 290 million or 114%. Excluding state subsidizations, the increase has changed from NOK 192 million to NOK 386 million, which is an increase of NOK 194 million or 101% This goes to show that the artists themselves, as a group, have seen tremendous more growth than the industry as a whole.

And, yes, there are more musicians out there to split the pie, but the growth rate in the industry has increased more quickly than the growth in musicians.

Since the total number of artists in 1999 and 2009 are available to the authors, it is possible to calculate an average income from music for artists in Norway. With 3200 artists in 1999 the average income from music would be about NOK 65 000. With 4100 artists in 2009 the average income from music is about NOK 133 000, creating an increase of NOK 68 000 or 105%. Adjusted for inflation the income has increased with from about NOK 80 000 to NOK 133 000, an increase of NOK 53 000, an increase of 66%.

Overall, the results, like those in Sweden and the UK, seem to clearly debunk the repeated claims from recording industry folks (and some musicians) that artists are somehow suffering under this new setup. Now, there may absolutely be cases where artists who fail to adapt are struggling, and there's no doubt that some labels that failed to adapt are struggling -- but there's increasingly little evidence that the overall music industry or artists as a whole are suffering. All of the evidence seems to suggest that it's not file sharing that's a problem at all. More money is going into the music business. The only problems are from those in the industry too stubborn or too clueless to adapt to capture the money that's flowing in.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..

What makes a man want to amass more money than God, and once he has, keep going? For each hedge-fund manager the answers are a little bit different, and a little bit the same. From today's Bloomberg Markets we believe we have identified the four primary things that motivated Harbinger Capital founder Philip Falcone (or as readers of this blog may know him, Mr. Lisa Falcone), whose fund made $11 billion betting against subprime, to become who he is today.

We begin with a sepia-tinted moment when Falcone first leaves his Minnesota hometown, all gawky of limb and Lionel Richie of hair, to seek his fortune in the big city.

Neil Sheehy, from nearby International Falls, had offered Falcone a ride to Harvard University, which had recruited both of them to play hockey for the Crimson. The car stalled in front of Falcone’s house, and Sheehy had to restart it on a hill while Falcone’s mother and one of his sisters sobbed their goodbyes.

“It’ll be all right, Mrs. Falcone; it’ll be all right,” Sheehy recalls telling Caroline Falcone as the car chugged to life and headed east.

Falcone was one of nine, and his mother still cared that he was leaving home! This is meaningful and leads us to Motivation 1: Phil can never let his mama down.

[To wit, later: "Galloway says he once set up a meeting for Falcone with a billionaire investor who was interested in Harbinger. Falcone said he couldn’t make the meeting because he had to go see his mother."]

Immediately after leaving home, life decided to punk young Philip by showing him that even when you think that things are tough, they can always get worse.

Falcone rode to Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his feet on the dashboard because Sheehy had packed a skate-sharpening machine on the floor of the front seat... Halfway there, the roof liner came loose and showered the young men with fiberglass insulation that stuck to them as they sweated in the late.

Motivation 2: The fuck he's going to go through something like that again. He is going to kick life's ass!

Then, he did not quite fit in at school.

Falcone was wide-eyed when he arrived at Harvard in 1980, says hockey teammate Greg Olson, who’s now a dentist in Minnetonka, Minnesota. “He was a deer in the headlights,” Olson says. After recovering from the initial shock, Falcone made himself something of a campus don. Hockey teammates called him “Fashion Phil” because he cared so much about his clothes, Olson says. He had a blue, three-piece suit that he wore often, and he always wore stylish shoes.

Motivation 3: Show those jerkoffs who called him a hick and a fag who the man is.

But after graduation, he was more confident.

[Wife Lisa] was working as a model when she met Phil Falcone through mutual friends at a Manhattan restaurant in the late 1980s.

Motivation 4: GIRLS!

Of course, a hot wife and incredible financial success doesn't keep the critics at bay. If anything, it just makes them worse.

“Just because a manager got the subprime trade right, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a skilled manager,” says Brad Balter, managing partner of Balter Capital Management LLC, a Boston-based firm that invests in hedge funds for clients. “There have been several funds that benefited from that bet in 2007 whose performance was mediocre before and continues to be mediocre today.”

Motivation 5: Show those jerkoffs who suggest he is a one-hit wonder who the man is. Then show them again. And again. Until he dies.

Falcone Losing Touch Borrowing From Funds While His Investors Denied Cash

eric seiger

eric seiger

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

eric seiger

eric seiger

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

eric seiger

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

eric seiger

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

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<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

big seminar 14

So far the world has seen unprecedented changes owing to the fast technological advancements and in particular the internet technology. The revolution has resulted to numerous money making opportunities never envisioned before. Now to individuals and businesses actively engaged in work and business activities over the internet, online money making has at least become a reality. The volume of transactions completed over the internet on daily basis has increased over the last ten years at a rate that has surpassed our expectations. This has undoubtedly immensely contributed to the world economy by creating business opportunities, opening the global market and even addressing the problem of unemployment in many countries around the world.

Online money making at this age of the information superhighway that is characterized by pervasive computing capabilities, has become possible partly because of the low cost of transactions and the need to conduct business across territorial borders. Briefcase companies, that is companies that do not have any physical presence, now have the potential to make a lot money than most of the biggest brick and mortar or even brick and click businesses. The online business platform to a large extent offers equal money making opportunities that do not discriminate either small or large businesses.

To start operating online, businesses have to consider the viability of their idea, that is whether the product or service they would like to sell online is going to fetch market globally, or can practically be offered online. The other most important step is to design a Web site where the online store of the products or services will be accessible to potential buyers who visit it. A merchant account has to be created with an online payment system and integrated into the Web site in order to allow the online buyers to pay with credit or debit cards.

Other money making opportunities will be created by Web sites that serve as online marketplaces, for example ebay.com. Such Web sites allow sellers and buyers to create accounts and participate in online bidding for products and services. Millions of transactions are completed on daily basis in such Web sites as the opportunity has allowed many sellers and buyers to competitively participate.

Since not all Web sites have online stores for goods and services that are exchanged for money, many Web sites have also been set up by third parties who mainly offer services required to facilitate online transactions. The architecture to facilitate online payments to merchants in many cases is provided by third parties in order to allow vendors to specialize in their core business activities for more efficiency. Other Web sites would even provide free services such as email, with their main objective being to build an online traffic they can target with paid advertisements. Similarly through affiliate marketing programs, many Web sites have managed to make a lot of money. The strategy works by setting up Web sites that purely provide free information to serve particular audience interests. Online visitors searching for information to serve their interests would then be directed to the Web site by a search engine, and soon the Web site would build a large traffic. The Web site can allow free subscription in order to build a profile for their online visitors and gather statistics so as to know their numbers in a given period of time. Statistical counters may have to be built and integrated into the Web site for that matter. The profiles and the figures of the online visitors is what the Web site would use to win the relevant advertisers of other Web sites that sell products and services. For instance if a Web site is providing sports information they would run advertisements that promote sports wear and sporting equipments. Because of properly targeting an audience interested in sports, the advertisement has higher chances of leading the information seeking visitor who is also a potential buyer, through a link into the selling Web site where they may decide to make a purchase. The selling Web site would then pay the affiliate Web site mostly on commission basis for facilitating the transaction. Other Web sites make money through paid subscriptions of information services and advertising. Subscribers to such Web sites are regularly sent email messages with information of their interest and advertisements paid by their owners as well.

Recognizing the global high unemployment rates as well, Web sites have been setup to link potential employees and employers. They allow each to create an account for profile on the Web site that can easily be searched when looking for jobs or hiring. Currently, some Web sites have become popular by allowing those with skills and competence in particular fields to complete projects posted on the site by clients. This is normally done through a bidding process in order to win projects from clients. All seeking to bid or post projects will be required to open accounts on the sites in order to facilitate the transactions. The sites main source revenue would be charging the transacting parties.

Despite challenges of legislation and insecurity that characterizes the online transactions, particularly regarding the payment systems, online money making opportunities continue to emerge at a fast rate and soon all the business may just be conducted online.


big seminar 14

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

big seminar 14

<b>News</b> just in: Joan Sutherland has died - Slipped disc

News just in: Joan Sutherland has died. Dame Joan Sutherland, the dominant opera soprano after Maria Callas, has died at her home in Switzerland, her record company has announced. She was a month short of her 84th birthday. ...

Bad <b>News</b>: Broncos Will Be Short-Handed Against Jets - Mile High Report

The Broncos will be severely short-handed when they face the New York Jets on Sunday.

Good <b>news</b> for European shoppers as Amazon.co.uk cuts delivery fees

A year ago, Amazon.co.uk introduced free delivery for orders in Ireland, the first country outside the UK where shoppers could benefit from the ...

big seminar 14