I think something like the freemium model you mention is the way to go. As others have mentioned in this discussion, the alternatives simply rely on pushing the

I think something like the freemium model you mention is the way to go. As others have mentioned in this discussion, the alternatives simply rely on pushing the costs to different sectors (like funding agencies or even, in the worst case scenarios, researchers themselves). I keep waiting for this sort of thing to happen. Perhaps it could even be bundled into some kind of social network that would offer an alternative to academia.edu. It seems that there is a lot of inertia when it comes to scholarly publishing though.