Losers Relish Scarcity, Winners Leverage Scale

from the yeah,-what-he-said dept

For quite some time now, we've been trying to convince many folks in a variety of industries, but especially the recording industry, to recognize why their rush to create and embrace business models that rely on artificial scarcity was not sustainable. What's been most amazing is how the folks in the industry themselves turn a blind eye to it (or falsely seem to accuse us of just promoting "theft.") However, with the recording industry continuing to struggle, it looks like insiders are finally starting to hear the message. Mathew Ingram points us to a talk given by Yahoo!'s Ian Rogers to a music industry conference last month with the title: Losers Relish Scarcity, Winners Leverage Scale. He goes on to discuss the "physics" of media, which is nothing more than basic economics. However, using the word "physics" makes sense here. For whatever reason (and economists may be at fault here), too many people still assume that economics are what people want to happen or what should happen, rather than recognizing that it describes forces that actually are happening. Talking about economics as "physics" helps get that point across. It's a good pitch, though my experience suggests that the important people won't listen (or, rather won't "hear" what's being said). While much of the industry is figuring this out, the big bosses of the record labels are still a long way from waking up to the reality they face.
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Filed Under: economics, scale, scarcity
Companies: yahoo


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  1. identicon
    Haywood, 7 Jan 2008 @ 9:17am

    Read the article in the link

    Best presentation / explanation of the road ahead for music & Video for that matter. If the execs get it, this could be the start of something big. Conversely, they can continue the international game of whack a mole, and at best win a few law suits.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 Jan 2008 @ 12:53pm

    BS. If scale is all that matters, Walmart is the best. Course, thats where this is all leading anyway. Walmart will be the only company left standing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Lucretious, 7 Jan 2008 @ 1:01pm

    so I can now call Hassidim Jews losers for their enabling the diamond industry (read: DeBeers dynasty) to enslave people and sequester vast quantities of gems thus duping the public into beleive that they are truly rare?

    sweet.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Technopundit, 7 Jan 2008 @ 9:27pm

    Supply and demand used to be called a "law".

    link to this | view in thread ]


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