How to make money from content online?

Matt Brittin, MD of Google UK, opened proceedings, at the Big Innovation Centre's debate on this topic last night. It was held in Google's swanky new building.

(The Big Innovation Centre, by the way, is a new initiative from the Work Foundation, a unique British based network to promote innovation and investment. Check out www.biginnovationcentre.com.)

The new Big Idea from Andrew Sissons at the Big Innovation Centre was that a new Digital Licence Fee would create an additional revenue stream for online content providers.

How would it work? Internet users would be charged a monthly fee according to their internet usage; this fee would be distributed among content providers according to people's choices - expressed through a 'recommend' button; this revenue would be open to any online content provider; from large, established companies to individual creators and entrepreneurs.

Isn't this happening, in a way, already? If your content's good enough to attract advertising, don't you already get paid a small sum by the internet service providers?

Worth further exploration? The Big Innovation Centre certainly think so.