IP Democracy: Parks Associates on Desperate Hollywood, Reckless Pirates

In Parks Associates’ latest “People & Technology” newsletter, analyst Harry Wang asks the question “what should be done…about Desperate Hollywood, Reckless Pirates?” Wang’s piece points to a dilemma summed up nicely in Siva Vaidhyanathan’s 2004 book, The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System, which cast the battle as one between P2P-enabled anarchists pitted against control-seeking media oligarchs, with the rest of us caught in the crossfire of the two groups’ escalating techno-warfare.

Wang urges Hollywood to move beyond its current defensive stance, which many believe will never be wholly effective and, in some respects, may be counter-productive (i.e., the more studios focus on the goal of control vs. ease-of-use, the more motivated and numerous are the pirates).

Why not be innovative with new online movie delivery models? Why not be creative in supporting movie downloads to portable devices? Why not start experimenting with superdistribution over the P2P networks?

Wang observes that BitTorrent and P2P in general, “fit nicely into consumers’ lifestyle and usage patterns. Such a good fit means outside forces are unlikely to uproot or alter them.” He also notes that heavy users of file-sharing services are also heavy purchasers of CDs and that 27% of Internet households currently download videos from the web on a monthly basis, with 20% of U.S. consumers admitting to having used file-sharing services at least that often.

“How to play the convenience card? ” Wang asks rhetorically. His answer, with some numbers to back it up is:

It is about more choices, more delivery models, and more flexible pricing. Parks Associates has tested different delivery models on Internet users, and the data came back encouraging. Nearly one-fourth (23%) of U.S. Internet households are highly interested in spending $15 to burn an online movie; 15% are willing to view commercials as part of an online movie in exchange for free burning; and 8% are willing to sign up for a monthly subscription service at $15 per month (similar cost compared with Netflix’s or Blockbuster’s offers) for unlimited movie burning.

“The point,” says Wang, is that “there will be huge opportunities for online movie distribution. Don’t miss it,” he cautions content owners, “and don’t spoil it.”

Posted by Mitch Shapiro on June 7, 2005 3:31 PM to IP Democracy