The Business Model is Dead, Long Live the Business Model

Nate Anderson writes about the XKCD Web comic by Randall Munroe in his Ars Technica piece titled Disruption: How One Webcomic Welcomes the Future That so Many Fear.

"Munroe's approach to 'protecting' his content might be best defined as 'lenient'

"'You are welcome to reprint occasional comics pretty much anywhere (presentations, papers, blogs with ads, etc),' he writes. 'If you're not outright merchandising, you're probably fine. Just be sure to attribute the comic to xkcd.com.'

"Somehow, giving the comic away for free has turned into a lucrative business for the now full-time cartoonist."

More here.

Related: Randall Munroe draws Cory Doctorow ("who likes to draw me as a superhero in cape and goggles") for the cover of a new limited edition book of Doctorow's.