For those who use Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Google, SOPA/PIPA is not news any more. I am not going to describe those again as you can find all about its good, bad, and ugliness by just searching for those two horrible acronyms.
Piracy is a problem for any industry I am not trying to defend it. But this is not how you fight it. And in my opinion this is not even the fight they should be fighting in the first place.
Fight Piracy With Availability
IMO piracy is the answer that internet age has found for inaccessibility. Lower the availability you will find piracy spiking. Just think about it. World is not just US,Canada and UK any more. Most of the population is outside those regions and they too have TVs and Internet. If you live outside US/UK/Canada region how long do you have to wait till you can watch the latest Episode of your favorite TV show or a movie legally. Most likely your local cable channels don’t has it or few seasons behind or you will have to wait till a DVD release. Most people are not that much patient.
What media industry need is a better delivery system. They have to realize that the market is no longer just United States and Canada. It’s time that they explore fast distribution strategies across the world. May be they should have more cable channels to broadcast their programs in other countries. Or they just have to bypass cable operators and just do it on the internet.
This worked with software and it should work for other media as well. One example is Antivirus software in SL and South Asian region. Few years back only way to get a legal version is to pay the outrages price (in south Asian economies) which is set for US/Canada/UK market. As a result everyone used cracked version. Now there is a separate license for this region at a reduced price. Most of us buy it. Company did not lose money by slashing prices. They just made more. Because those who did not pay to use their product are paying now.
All you need is to innovate in order to meet global market and 21st century technology.
Understanding Internet Age
Some of the things in these acts which require sites to filter content posted by users, simply show the lack of knowledge about the social dynamics and scale of internet. It is no different from an Indian judge saying that social media must scan for user comments which insult their political & religious figures. Only difference is what you are looking for, and the powers that are given by the act which is worse in US version.
Old Model Just Don’t Work
Just look around you. World has changed. Business models that made billions 20 years ago don’t work today. Ideas that simply did not make any sence 20 years ago are thriving. Just imagine, If someone tell you 20 years ago, that you can create a damn good encyclopedia bu just letting everyone and anyone write it without paying them a dime, what would you say?
Remember music CDs? Unless you are a collector you are not interested in buying the entire album just to listen to only one or two songs in it. Also if you just want to listen, you don’t want to pay for all the physical material, packaging and distribution costs. It does not make sense any more. If you remember that’s what apple tapped in to.
If you are a Star Gate fan like me you must have watch the financial horrors of MGM finally killed the TV show and its movies we all loved. They blamed bad DVD sales and ratings for it. Who buys DVDs any more. May be only the collectors. Even the pirated DVD shops are not selling as they used to.
Same goes for those who depend on ratings and advertising money. Seriously does current rating systems really cover how well a show is doing popularity wise. Does the companies even try to turn the popularity outside US/Canada/EU in to money.
My point is, many of the models that are running today are based on pre internet age. World has a come a long way, so should the media industry. Their failure to innovate and reach global markets has not only made them loose opportunities to make money, but has also created a void which create room for piracy. SOPA/PIPA is nothing but attempts to holding on to old ways of doing business disguised in IP protection laws by those who cannot innovate.
oh I forgot, Happy New Year!
Tags: Cable TV, CD, DVD, Fight Piracy, Innovation, Intellectual Property, Intellectual Property Rights, Internet, IP, IP Rights, Media Industry, Music, Patent, PIPA, Piracy, Piracy vs Availability, SOPA, TV
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