31 1 / 2012

How To Fix The Entertainment Industry Without Passing Stupid Laws (DIS, ATVI, SNE) | BusinessInsider

Reposted from http://bit.ly/zHJf5B on January 31, 2012 at 03:08PM


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All of the recent anti-piracy legislation’s seem to have put the tech community at odds with the content community. 

Major entertainment industries like Hollywood and the music industry have a right to protect their content and profit off of it.

However suing your customer is not a winning business strategy and suing the sites that provide the unauthorized distribution of content is proving to be difficult. 

If Hollywood and other related industries really want to reduce internet piracy, then they need to innovate.

There are ways to compete with free if you give your customers what they want in a convenient, affordable, and timely manner.

Here are just a few ideas about what the video game industry, software industry, music industry, Hollywood and more could do to solve their piracy problems.

The video game industry needs to embrace digital subscription services.

The Good: The video game industry has done a good job of finding new customers in nearly all demographic categories. A record number of people are playing video games on a variety of different platforms and some games are doing really well. For example, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 broke the same record it set the previous year and produced $1 billion dollars of sales 16 days after the game was released. 

The Problem: However that didn’t aid video game sales as game sales were down 21 percent in December. This could be because major gaming consoles are near the end of their life cycle but either way the video game industry was surprised at the drop in sales and at least a little bit worried. 

The Solution: 

  • Continue to deliver more and more games through digital subscription services like GameFly. However, reduce the wait on new titles and have them arrive in my mailbox faster.
  • $60 dollars for a video game that can be beaten in a week or less is expensive. Find a way to lower the production costs in your value chain so that you can lower the costs of video games without sacrificing value. I know this seems like a tall order but consider this: the most pirated video games of 2011 were also highly anticipated titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. The fact that people are buying the pirated version may signal that the cost is out of reach for what you get.
  • Or let users buy different versions of the game. Some versions of games could come with a bare version, others with enhanced features. Follow the Sims model of buying the base package and then having the option to add extra  expansion packs to the game that open up new gameplay options.


Hollywood should take a cue from Hulu and start streaming movies for free.

The Good: Whether a movie is considered good or not is subjective, but we think it’s safe to say that people will always love to watch movies.

The Problem: Honestly, where do we start? First, Roger Ebert was right to criticize the movie going experience. It has been awful for as long as we can remember. The rising ticket costs, over priced concessions, annoying teens, and people on their phones are all reasons to avoid the movie theaters at any costs. Add to that the fact that you don’t even know if a movie will be any good and you may have suffered at the theater for no good reason.

That may explain why more and more people are waiting for the DVD release of films to see them but that doesn’t explain the pirated distribution of movies. A lot of movie content is pirated because there are no other convenient or affordable options for users.

A Solution:

  • We like GIGAOM writer Ryan Lawler’s idea to create a Hulu like service that streams movies over an internet connection. The service could be free with ads or users could sign up for monthly subscriptions that allow them to access either a set or unlimited number of movies a month. 
  • Another of Lawler’s ideas: Since indie films are hard to find in the theaters, consider streaming more of indie (and other new release movie titles) on demand for half the price of a movie ticket. 


Comic book publishers need to publish more of their content digitally, and they need to do it faster.

The Good: If we can take a record turnout at this years New York Comic Con as a sign, comic books still are, and perhaps forever will be popular. Furthermore, comic book publishers are finally starting to understand the needs and desires of their customers by allowing their content to be published digitally thanks to the likes of apps like comiXology.

The Problem: It is essential that comic books find a way to go digital. Brick and Mortar comic book stores are closing their doors left and right and major comic book publishers have been slow to make the full transition. A lot of readers don’t feel like they have any choice but to go the pirated route.

The Solution:

  • Upload more content from more publishers digitally to apps like comiXology and do it faster. If the comic book industry wants to compete with free websites they need to compete with them by striking at their weaknesses. Sites that offer pirated comic book content are ideal because they let readers find out what happens next much faster than waiting for the paper form (especially in the case of international comic books like mangas). However, they often have inaccurate subtitles or blurry images from bad scan jobs. 
  • Allow users to access an unlimited amount of content for a monthly price. No one wants to pay $15.00 for a 60 page (or less) picture book. Even 4.99 for 17 pages seems excessive. A low monthly fee automatically deducted from an account saves hassle and helps you gain readership.
  • Make the first comic book in a series free. A lot of publishers like VIZ Media, who has released some of their content on their app, already do this. Others should follow suit. 


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