Value is what consumers expect most when they make a purchase. Violate that sense of value and they will walk away every time. As Digital Music News editor Paul Resnikoff pointed out a few months ago there are people who spend $50,000 on a car and half-a-million on a house, but won’t spend $20 for a CD. So when Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing went on his very angry tear through the legal agreement that accompanies Amazon’s new movie service Amazon Unbox I couldn’t help but think how the people who insist on including draconian terms for the release of digital media are only undermining there own attempts to make money.
But, the market has a way of leveling the playing field, and when it comes to consumers it can be brutal.
Both the record and movie industries insist on the most controlling digital rights management schemes and it appears one of their strategies is to have their legal teams parse every mundane activity into a separate set of license permissions. Want to record a TV show? That will require a record license. Want the right to use a product like SlingBox to watch the Met game while on business in South Dakota? That will require a space shift license. Some in the media are excited by this because they believe this will generate new lines of revenue. Doctorow points to a comment made by an MPAA Vice President during DRM negotiations he sat through. The VP said “Watching a show that’s being received in one room while you’re sitting in another room has value, and if it has value, we should be able to charge money for it.”
He’s right, you CAN charge for it. The trick is actually getting enough consumers to pay.
Related Posts
- Amazon Unbox arrives on the TiVo
- Apple, Amazon silent about reports of online movie services
- NBC Now Offers TV Shows on Amazon’s Unbox
- Amazon.com launches digital download service
- Renaissance Now: Fight Insane Copyright Terms
Loading ...
