Analyst fear dark days for TV and film industry… you got that right!
By fred | July 8, 2008
Recently we learned that Lehman Brothers cut the stock ratings of Walt Disney Company, Time Warner and other top entertainment companies, fearing the television and film industry could suffer the same battering as the music business. And they’re right, some dark days are ahead of them, especially if they start doing the same crap that’s been going on in the music business for years now, specifically blaming the consumers, threatening them every possible way, and blaming “piracy” and “illegal downloading” for everything that’s wrong.
Doing so would pretty much ensure that illegal downloading has some great days ahead, and that the big networks are indeed going to be in trouble. And sadly, this is exactly what’s happening, as analyst Anthony DiClemente wrote, “To be clear, our fear is that the damage that digital distribution inflicted on the music industry will replicate itself in the movie industry, and our fears are too great to justify keeping neutral or positive ratings on the creators and distributors of movie and TV content“.
Now I don’t dispute that for one second, that’s be silly, with only one little precision that needs to be made : digital distribution didn’t inflict anything on the music industry, record companies did.
Problems come when big companies try to react to the changes ahead in their industry, by blaming the consumers instead of adapting to their new needs and ways of consuming media. The world is changing, the way people consume their entertainment is evolving, and trying to fight against it is a recipe for failure.
“We believe fragmentation of media as a result of technological change is highly likely to disrupt the economics of traditional forms of movie and TV distribution” he added, and there’s truth to that. But the most important part is here : “Content may no longer be king in the entertainment business.”
Oh I think that’s a given : content was never king in the entertainment business, the companies, the studios, the networks, were. But now, with the digital revolution on its way, it is us, the consumers, the viewers, who are taking control, we are now becoming king. From now on, we won’t be dictated when to watch a show, the day and time won’t come from the almighty networks. No, from now on we will chose what we watch and when we watch it.
That doesn’t mean the industry will have to suffer and die, as they’d like us to think, they can make the most of it, but blaming piracy definitely isn’t the way to go. Because I don’t believe it is illegal for someone to download the show he missed the night before, that’s just one new alternative of the DVR or the good old VCR. A better one, cause you don’t even have to set it up before : you forgot your show was back on last night, just go online and download it !
Look, if I buy a DVD of a movie or a TV show, I can watch it anywhere I want - my desktop computer, my laptop, my DVD player, my friend’s computer, my parent’s DVD player, anywhere there’s a device able to play a DVD. So why, when I download something, should I be limited to using the player they want, and only able to watch it on that computer and no others ?
It’s all this crap, it’s all those DRM bullshit that went wrong in the music business. In the 70’s people listen to the radio, recorded songs from the radio and exchanged tapes. Today, people do the same only it’s called downloading MP3 files and there’s no more tapes, only an MP3 player. But it’s the same, just like people were making mix-tapes of their favorite songs and listened to it at home, in their car, on the bus, at school, anywhere.
The means have changed but the facts are the same, and as long as major record companies will blame MP3 downloading for all their trouble, focusing on threatening with big lawsuits the people that make them live in he first place instead of trying to adapt, as long as they’ll keep releasing shitty albums from the latest American Idol or whatever show they chose instead of focusing on doing what they should be doing ion the first place, music, it’s not gonna go anywhere.
As a matter of fact, it’s called the The Pirate’s Dilemma, it’s all explained in a great book by Matt Mason that - if you haven’t already - you really should go read right now. It’s very insightful, and it’s free!
Posted in News
You Sir, are right.