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We should note that the idea has been suggested literally thousands of times (probably still several times a week).
TEN, back in the old SIM days, used to sell a "premium membership" with unlimited access to the HRM archives (I've not seen it advertised recently, so I don't know if they still have that program available).
(EDIT: the website for "Platinum" access is still active ( http://club.hotrod.com/ ) but I've not been able to find any current sign-up links yet . . . . )
As an anecdote, even though most of the old Petersen photo archives have now been digitized (and the hard copies, negatives, and slides turned over to the Petersen Museum), access to it -- even by TEN freelancers -- remains highly restricted. Basically you've got to get a staff editor to request "research" of a particular image and then wait . . . wait . . . wait for them to find it.
Thankfully, they're convinced HRD and some of the retro stories monetize the photo archive . . . but some say that wasn't necessarily a foregone conclusion when the archive was more at risk a while back.
That it hasn't happened on the "free" scale suggests that a whole bureaucracy of decision makers has not been convinced that it will sufficiently monetize and will not cannibalize current sales.
Some think it's hard to tie-in current advertising support with archival materials (see how limited the HRD ad support is as an example). and that "circ" is still too limited. So even if they were to expand access, it would likely be tied to premium subscription models.
Also note that the remaining rights to a lot of the early automotive, racing, and hot rodding materials are owned by companies other than TEN -- so who knows whether or not those rights holders have any current interest in an ad-supported "free" distribution model.
Just getting some of this stuff for an old-fashioned book can be a time-consuming prospect . . . .
The copyright point was more about privateers and maybe Google digitizing and making antique content available.
I'd love for it to happen, but that it hasn't in the 25+ years of popular internet isn't necessarily a coincidence, IMHO.
TEN, back in the old SIM days, used to sell a "premium membership" with unlimited access to the HRM archives (I've not seen it advertised recently, so I don't know if they still have that program available).
(EDIT: the website for "Platinum" access is still active ( http://club.hotrod.com/ ) but I've not been able to find any current sign-up links yet . . . . )
As an anecdote, even though most of the old Petersen photo archives have now been digitized (and the hard copies, negatives, and slides turned over to the Petersen Museum), access to it -- even by TEN freelancers -- remains highly restricted. Basically you've got to get a staff editor to request "research" of a particular image and then wait . . . wait . . . wait for them to find it.
Thankfully, they're convinced HRD and some of the retro stories monetize the photo archive . . . but some say that wasn't necessarily a foregone conclusion when the archive was more at risk a while back.
That it hasn't happened on the "free" scale suggests that a whole bureaucracy of decision makers has not been convinced that it will sufficiently monetize and will not cannibalize current sales.
Some think it's hard to tie-in current advertising support with archival materials (see how limited the HRD ad support is as an example). and that "circ" is still too limited. So even if they were to expand access, it would likely be tied to premium subscription models.
Also note that the remaining rights to a lot of the early automotive, racing, and hot rodding materials are owned by companies other than TEN -- so who knows whether or not those rights holders have any current interest in an ad-supported "free" distribution model.
Just getting some of this stuff for an old-fashioned book can be a time-consuming prospect . . . .
The copyright point was more about privateers and maybe Google digitizing and making antique content available.
I'd love for it to happen, but that it hasn't in the 25+ years of popular internet isn't necessarily a coincidence, IMHO.
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