Including a simple recipe for self-destruction: one part MPAA, one part RIAA, one part Washington, and three parts greed and ignorance.
I’m sorry movie and music industries, that you’re so goddamn stupid that since you can’t figure out how to make money with one of the greatest technological achievements in human history, you want to destroy it. No really. I feel bad that the mostly white, fatass males that run a multi-billion dollar industry that pays most of the hardworking working people struggling to get into it a pittance in comparison to their own incomes can no longer lounge in ease by the pool with a bevy of hookers. I’m also sorry that after buying Led Zeppelin IV
on vinyl, cassette, and compact disc, that I copied it a few times for friends and personal use, and I’m sorry that after buying the “theatrical release” and multiple “director’s cuts” of Blade Runner
on VHS and DVD, a friend gave me a copy of the Blu Ray version. Hang me. I’m sorry that when confronted with the terrible loss of revenue you’ve created with your own fucktardedness, the only solution you see is to grease the already slippery palms of Washington and lose even MORE money on doomed strategies. Because you know what? This little soup you’ve been cooking, this “SOPA DE MIERDA” as I like to call it, is probably going to be the last dish of crap you try to serve us. You see, there’s this OTHER recipe for entertainment we can ingest, and it’s been simmering nicely for a while now. It’s called INDEPENDENTLY PRODUCED MEDIA. We have the same tools you have now, and aren’t as greedy as you are. We can make more money than you ever paid us DOING IT OURSELVES. I mean, aside from all the great indy bands and films that have sprung up triumphantly in the wreckage of your business model, there’s USER GENERATED CONTENT. Let’s face it. Who wouldn’t rather watch funny cat videos for a hundred twenty seconds than watch crappy retreads like Cars 2
, The Hangover 2
, and a Conan the Barbarian
remake for a hundred twenty MINUTES? Watching most of the movies your hallowed industry churns out these days is like a weirdly recursive cinematic bulimia, where one is forced to eat and re-eat the same meal over and over. I’m sorry, movie and music industries, when you’ve completed your grandiose acts of self-destruction, I won’t miss you.
Posted by Ben on 01.21.12 11:57 pm
Whoa. One long paragraph of text.
But seriously, I’m not that sad to see these dinosaurs in the entertainment industry slowly sink into their tar pits.
Not that I strictly condone violating IP.
But, they clearly learned nothing from shutting down Napster. For every Napster they shut down, there’s a Megaupload out there.
It’s too late. You’ve had your day. It’s absurd to think that this is going to save your business models. (More on that here: http://adventuresinmediadevelopment.com/megaupload-shutdown-economic-delusion/).
They just don’t get that the model now is to disincentivize piracy by offering something that can’t be pirated, or that simply isn’t up to snuff pirated.
Take Phish, for instance. Phish makes peanuts on its packaged content. They make their money, and always have, on live performances. Heck, they basically give recorded versions of their shows away for free. They make their money on the fact that they produce something in person that simply cannot be replicated digitally. Quality wins.
And, interestingly, Phish, one of the most online and engaged bands of all time, doesn’t even feel the threat of piracy. Why? Because they didn’t get stuck in the past.
The only constant is change. Those who deny that die on the vine. Those who embrace it ripen into juicy and delicious success berries.