Interesting read about giving away content over at Creative Class The example of YouTube is a good one but the free model can work at reduced scales. There are plenty of content providers that use their content as a marketing vehicle for selling other services. Just look at all the blogs for professionals (Seth Godin for example). They build their platform and buzz by giving away some of their content and then become “experts” who are sought after for paying gigs. It might not scale but it can work.
