Movie Piracy a Great Scapegoat for Movie Studios
October 19, 2009 – 9:40 pmIt is not at all surprising that the film industry’s key players are thrilled to collectively cite movie piracy as being the “industry’s greatest menace“. However, there are two major problems with this argument.
Firstly, it externalizes any responsibility for a studios performance. This is a tough time for film execs as the credit crunch squeezes the pool of funds for bankrolling production while studios are simultaneously forced to compete in an increasingly fragmented industry. By blaming the faceless piracy bogey-man, film execs are able avoid accountability for ability to meet these more tangible challenges. For example, claiming that movie piracy was responsible for the demise of Disney’s home video operations in South Korea allows CEO Robert Iger is able to avoid any accountability for failing to launch a compelling home entertainment download product – a real pity for consumers in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of broadband penetration.
This brings us to the second problem in that blaming movie piracy for the industry’s supposed misfortune fails to recognize the tremendous opportunities afforded by the online world (yes, even torrents and p2p). A compelling home download service results in distribution costs being almost zero (more so when it would utilize P2P!) while allowing studios to get closer to their end users – a win for everyone aside from those no longer adding any value to the movie distribution value-chain. In short, don’t make us go to a theatre or buy Blu-ray if we’re happy with an HD download. Furthermore, online media allows studios to more effectively market their wares – it is a canny studio who is able to utilize P2P to make the trailer for their next release go viral.
While we’re happy to concede that movie piracy poses challenges for the industry, it has been around for possibly ten years now and continuing to rely on it to garner performance concessions fails to exploit the opportunities it presents. It furthermore draws out the length of time studios are able to cling to already outdated business models that consumers are more than happy to leave behind.
Part of Iger’s move piracy scapegoat collective and want to payback to the folk that might need it? Make a payback now …