Open Business – Spreadshirt and Jamendo

Some time ago Andreas Milles of Spreadshirt had a presentation at the Berlin Webmonday about his companies Open Logo Contest. They had developed a community that worked on the development of their new logo. In the end they actually took the logo design of a free designer, who they only knew through his contributions on the website.

Some time ago Andreas Milles of Spreadshirt had a presentation at the Berlin Webmonday about his companies Open Logo Contest. They had developed a community that worked on the development of their new logo. In the end they actually took the logo design of a free designer, who they only knew through his contributions on the website. They also granted the people most involved in the process some money and presents. Andreas saw this as a new way to do business and even went so far as to call it Open Marketing.
Another example of how concepts of free software development and business models can be transferred to other sectors shows the music site jamendo.com

“jamendo is a new model for artists to promote, publish, and be paid for their music. On jamendo, the artists distribute their music under Creative Commons licenses. In a nutshell, they allow you to download, remix and share their music freely. It's a "Some rights reserved" agreement, perfectly suited for the new century.”

So, check it out! They have some great music. Half of their advertising revenue goes to the artists and you also have the chance to donate to your favorite artists. I call that Fair Biz!