
Scarcity Is A Shitty Business Model - llambda
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/01/scarcity-is-a-shitty-business-model.html
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aen1
Wonderful point. There's a Doctorow article I read somewhere that essentially
put forth the following logic for digital distribution:

There will be a group of people who would not acquire the content unless it
was digital. They may buy or pirate it. This is the group of interest. If more
people who weren't going to get the content (b/c of lack of exposure, lack of
interest, etc.) pay for it than don't pay for it, the digital venture is
worthwhile (This ignores that some people who would have bought it non-
digitally may pirate it, though that group is small; if you wish to support to
movie by paying for it, you'll most likely do it regardless of medium)

For example: 100 people would have bought the movie if it was only physical.

100 other people will have never heard of the movie unless it is released
digitally. Of these 100, 75 people buy the movie, 25 pirate it.

By listing it digitally, the publisher gets 175 people's worth of profit, and
25 people's worth of "loss". Therefore, it is worth listing digitally.

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nextparadigms
There's only one way to stop the studios and labels from making bills that
restrict the Internet, and that is to convince them to adopt a modern digital
strategy and embrace the qualities of the Internet, rather than keep fighting
them.

I would also like to see more articles that debunk their claims of hundreds of
billions of dollars lost every year due to piracy, because too many
politicians believe them - even those that are against SOPA/PIPA. If
politicians find out the real truth, and MPAA/RIAA lose credibility on piracy
losses, they might actually have to start thinking about modernizing their
digital strategy.

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paul9290
Indeed they THEMSELVES should work to create an global Internet license that
allows any web admin the right to sell/stream/distribute their content. If
site admins don't pay up based on such licensing terms then a legislative bill
should be drafted up for those who don't pay up.

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sjs
> We would have paid good money to watch Sherlock Holmes or Tinker Tailor
> Soldier Spy. But it simply was not an option. So we went with a TV show that
> was free and then went to bed.

Free? Surely Fred has paid for his cable subscription. And paid dearly if he
has any HD channels. And then there are the loud, terrible, annoying
commercials.

It costs at least $50/month to get anything half decent on cable TV here in
BC. More if you want HD stuff. Many folks I know spend about $100/month on
cable.

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ddagradi
"Free" is the perception though. Nobody is arguing the merits of a cable
subscription. The content is already piped into his house per a contract he
signed, so it's there and it's "free".

There is, however, no sum of money - no matter how large - that he can give to
the film industry to watch an already released movie in the comfort of his own
home.

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nestlequ1k
Tinker Tailor came out on Bluray a few days ago on Pirate Bay.

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ddagradi
I'd pay top-dollar to rent a movie while it's still in theaters (especially in
lieu of a low-quality, pirated option). If the rental price decreases as the
film leaves theaters, they could still maintain a strong sense of the value of
their product. It looks like it's working perfectly well in an ecosystem like
Steam, where a new release sells a truckload at $60, then again at $30, then
again at during a firesale at $5.

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moe
_I'd pay top-dollar to rent a movie while it's still in theaters (especially
in lieu of a low-quality, pirated option)_

A thousand times yes.

I have an AppleTV and would love to use it more. Sadly most movies arrive on
the torrents _months_ before apple adds them to their store. I just don't want
to wait that long.

To add insult to injury most downloads on AppleTV are _more_ expensive than
the BlueRay and are plagued with infuriating restrictions; no HD on the
download-version, or no download version at all. Sometimes there's even no HD
version at all...

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ddagradi
_months before apple adds them to their store_

Months before Apple is allowed to add them to their store, you mean. The same
goes for Netflix and Amazon Prime.

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moe
That's irrelevant to me as a customer.

