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copyright

The No Learning Ever Media Industry

July 12, 2011 16:00:00.000

It looks like the copyright holders in the movie industry are preparing to keep diving down the same rathole that the RIAA went down last decade - the "pound the end users of the product and see if that works" theory. Here's a good summary (read the whole piece though) from Slate:

If the studios were smart they'd go to the mat and create a massive one-stop shop for TV and movies, find a price point they can live with and then set programmers loose to make the thing as easy to use and ubiquitous as possible. Instead they've been wasting their time strong-arming the cable companies to help them on a new crusade against illegal downloaders—an unwieldy process that doesn't address the root problem and won't work.

Where have we heard that before?

I'm not saying that using illegal media is right. And of course it's free—the studios can't do anything about that. But does it have to be easier?

This problem isn't limited to the video industry, of course - back when I was at Cincom, I don't know how many conversations I had that went something like this:

Them: We can get $$$$ from these guys

Me:No, we can get $$ or $0, not $$$$

Them: Trust me, I know what I'm doing

.... and the inevitable result was... $0. That's the path the RIAA took, and it's the one that the MPAA seems bound and determined to follow. Apparently,they think this time is different

posted by James Robertson

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