Give A Little, Take A Lot Later

Towards the end of 2009, the Python team, fed up by the tens of thousands of clips illegally uploaded to YouTube by fans, took an unusual step to combat falling sales of their DVD's.

Instead of removing each illegal clip on video sharing site such as YouTube, the team made their intellectual property officially available, labeled, sorted and categorised in high-quality, with a call to action asking people to buy the official DVDs.

According to FastCompany:

"The trick of making Monty Python videos available for free online has boosted DVD sales of the comedy sketch show. If you compare DVD sales figures on Amazon before and after the creation of the Monty Python YouTube channel, the boost apparently tallies in at around 23,000%."

Not a bad return for a little generosity is it? Perhaps there's a lesson for a lot of brands who are still clinging onto what they feel is rightly theirs? Time to consider a bit of giving before the taking...

Via: FastCompany