Re: <nettime> Coming Soon: Hollywood Versus the Internet (Mike Godwin)

[Eric Miller <eric {AT} squishymedia.com>]

hi all,

Seems to me that the root of the conflict is twofold.  One, the rather 
libertarian technology industry isn't keen on having regulations imposed 
upon it, especially when the proposed regulations conflict with the 
industry consensus on copyright protections.

But the second issue seems more pivotal.  "Traditional" content companies 
are fully aware that their product is generally a limited-use entertainment 
commodity, whereas the tech companies are in the business of providing 
hardware and software tools for continuous use.  Put another way: as an end 
user, I'm probably going to watch this week's episode of "Friends" only 
once or twice at most, but I'm going to open Photoshop every day.  There's 
your problem...I'm going to pay for Photoshop because I use it every day 
and I need the manuals, the upgrades & bug fixes, the tech support, and the 
licenses.  But if someone emails me a Tivo-recorded sitcom with the 
commercials stripped out, I'll probably just watch it once and then trash 
it.  The content owner gets nothing from me. So you have the traditional 
content producers soiling their shorts, worried that they are going to lose 
primary revenue streams for their products, and with no lack of 
justification for their fears (refer to Napster for a case study of a 
revenue-free distribution channel.)

In the end, set aside any resentment of the corporate parents for a moment, 
and let me ask a simple question: if content producers effectively lose the 
right to compensation from and distribution of their works because of 
advances in technology, what do you think that's going to do to the quality 
and availability of content?

Eric

At 07:58 AM 1/9/2002 +1100, geert lovink wrote:
>date sent:      Tue, 18 Dec 2001 17:50:33 -0500
>from:           Mike Godwin <mnemonic {AT} WELL.COM>
>subject:        Coming Soon: Hollywood Versus the Internet
>to:             CYBERIA-L {AT} LISTSERV.AOL.COM
>
>An article I've been working on, for your comments.
>
>--Mike
>
>Coming Soon: Hollywood Versus the Internet
>
>If you have a fast computer and a fast connection to the Internet, you
>make Hollywood nervous. And Tinseltown is nervous not because of what
>you're doing now, but because of what you *might* do -- grab digital
>Hollywood content with your computer and broadcast it over the
>Internet.

<snip>

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