Whales & Baby whales want to give you their money

Whales & Baby whales - terms from the gambling world to refer to big spenders - are, according to this article, responsible for as much as 50% percent of the income where a business model begins with a free option (such as online social gaming).

@Lefsetz pointed this out in an email yesterday:

When you employ a freemium model, a small percentage of your customers will generate a significant part of your revenue. This is why you must offer expensive tickets and merchandise for these diehard fans.

...which he got from this article on allthingsd - a must read for it's views on where the music industry is going in terms of how an artist will earn an income - not from selling recorded music in the long term is the conclusion!

And that's why the freemium model to build a mailing list of fans with whom you engage continually (rather than in an album cycle) will allow you to offer your 'whale' fans music experiences that will form a large chunk of your income.

That article link again.