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MOVIES: THE WORLD’S DUMBEST BUSINESS MODEL

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So let’s get this straight. If you want to legally see a film at any point within the first four months of its release, you have to leave your house, go to what is effectively a ‘movie warehouse’ and pay £10 to see the film at a set time, regardless of how inconvenient that is. You also have to sit with 200 strangers and if you want a snack or drink you have to pay a price that makes you cry. And you can’t pause the film if you need to use the loo. Or rewind it if you miss a crucial detail. And if you decide that you enjoyed the movie and want to see it again you have to leave your house, pay more money and do it all again.

Man, that is dumb.

But wait, it gets dumber.

The movie itself is a digital product. It’s infinitely copyable and is already being distributed in uncontrollable numbers online, globally, for free. You can see the movie at whatever time you like, sat on the couch with your family in the comfort of your own home, eating the snacks you’ve already bought and can pause, rewind and replay it at any time. But there’s a catch – if you do that you’re a criminal.

Movie studios want to actively pursue you and have you fined, or take your internet away, if you attempt to watch the film in the comfort of your own home at any point within the first four months.

That’s fine I suppose, the movie studios are the originators of the content, so they have the power over how and when they sell their product. That’s how it works with all products, from a toy to a pie to a garden shed – the seller sets the price and the terms.

Oh wait, it’s NOTHING like a toy or a pie or a garden shed, because those are physical products. You can’t have them unless the seller agrees to give them to you. We’re talking about movies – digital products – that, like books and music, are infinitely copyable and can be distributed globally at the touch of a button without anyone’s permission.

So the goal posts have moved. When someone can get something for free, the seller can no longer dictate the terms. The power is in the hands of the consumer.

In this situation (the real world) the rights holder is left with one option – give people access to the content on as many platforms as possible and allow them to pay for it. Most people don’t want to be criminals. Most people recognise that it probably cost a bit of money to make a movie or a song or a book, and want to donate money to the creator, allowing them to make more of the movies or songs or books that they love.

But the movie industry chooses not to embrace this.

The movie industry puts its fingers in its ears and says ‘La-la-laaaa!’ when you try and GIVE IT MONEY so that you can watch the film at home with your family. It allows you no legal option of watching the film other than to sit in a place you may not want to be, at a time you may not like, with strangers you may not want to be with. So instead of generating revenue from what is possibly the largest untapped market in any industry in the world, it turns all other viewing options into a criminal act. That doesn’t stop it happening, it just stops the industry making any money from it.

And that’s why movies have the world’s dumbest business model.


Filed under: Thought Things Tagged: business model, cinema, distribution, movies, online, rant

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