Go To The Movie, Get The Soundtrack For Free
from the yet-another-idea dept
It always amazes me when movie industry execs complain that the models we discuss wouldn't work for the movie industry. That's ridiculous, because in many ways, it's already working for the industry. As Marcus Loew once famously said: "We sell tickets to theaters, not movies." The movie has never been the "product." The experience of seeing the movie is the product, and so the focus shouldn't be freaking out about "pirates" while making the movie-going experience worse. It should be the opposite. It should be about enticing people to want to go out to the movies by giving them something extra that makes it worthwhile. Going to the movies is a social experience. It's much cheaper to eat dinner at home, but plenty of people go out to eat at restaurants because those restaurants (while more expensive) give people a reason to go (better food quality, better service, a chance for a night out, no need to cook or wash the dishes, etc.). There's no reason why the movie industry can't do the same.While we've talked about a number of different ideas for enticing more people to go to the theaters (beyond making the experience better, why not let people buy a discounted DVD of the movie they just saw as they exit the theater -- if they really liked it, many will want to own it to see again, and to see the extras). Mark Cuban, who has actually been at the forefront of many of these ideas (and, also happens to be very involved in the industry, though more on the independent side) has an interesting new suggestion. He points out that only a small number of people actually buy the soundtracks associated with movies -- but if you want to attract more people to go to the movie, why not give them the ability to download the soundtrack of any movie they go see in the theaters. Put a special code on the ticket stub that takes them to a download store -- and on that store include the soundtrack as well as extras, such as the script from the film. Obviously, this content will be spread around and can be accessed by others, but many will value the fact that by seeing the actual movie they get access to the official content. As Cuban notes, this can also be a win for the music industry, as a portion of the movie ticket sales can be used to compensate them as well. It's yet another example of the model we've discussed repeatedly: using infinite goods (music, script) to make the scarce good (seats in a theater for a show) appear to be more valuable.
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Filed Under: free, mark cuban, movies, music, soundtrack
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This basic concept is what scares the movie and music industry from trying anything new. They just have no way of accepting the idea that releasing content freely on the Internet is not a dangerous thing to do.
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that is a good idea
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Re: that is a good idea
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Not everyone grabs 4 gut-busters for a buck at the Piggly Wiggly and smuggles them into the theater in his ass.
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So you see by not giving the movie goers any incentive to see the movie in the theaters they are saving our lives.
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thats pretty bad
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All that will mean is (yet another) increased prices at the theaters. If the movie industry has to share it's profits, we'll see higher prices.
EtG
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best idea i've heard in a while
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Ticket Prices
Don't know why the price has been going up, other than there have been so many shit movies out nobody really goes more than once a month now.
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Ticket Prices...
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Re: Ticket Prices...
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theater owners are their own worst enemy
That is offered as an excuse as to why 3 cents worth of raw corn costs $5.00 after popping and putting in a a so-called medium sized bag. And it is offered as the reason why 8 ounces of soft drink costs $4.50. Plus sales tax.
But that does not explain why in NYC, where a standard ticket costs more than $12, a senior ticket has been eroded 25 cents at a time, from what used to be a 50% discount to a current $8.50.
But here's what all the above *does* explain.
1) Daytime showings of almost any film that has out more than week are in generally empty theaters.
2) I now go only about once every two weeks when, only five years ago I was going twice a week.
3) I pop my own corn. In a supermarket I am offered ten times the selection of things to drink other than sugar-soda, including healthier juices and teas. My cost for the event is under a buck.
Something is wrong with their business model.
Few theaters offer subscriptions at a discount. Few offer off-peak pricing.
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I wouldn't
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Give the RIAA What????
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theater added value
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Selling DVD's on the way out
Plus, that is a very accurate way to know the success of the film. Sure, if a film is good at the box office, that could be (and often is) because the media has hyped it up, or the advertising campaign was good. People could still leave the film not liking it that much. It would really show how good it is by looking at the number of DVDs bought after the film.
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general
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I agree with the point, though. I'm willing to bet that nearly everybody who sees a film at the cinema will want to buy the film as they leave (unless it's absolutely terrible, when you see a film at the cinema, they always seem far better than when you see them anywhere else, and you like them an awful lot). But to appease both parties, what about having just a basic DVD that has *just* the film on it, for a low price, and then on the "normal" release date of the DVD, you can buy the extras separately on another DVD, for a low price? I'm willing to bet that profits from DVD sales would go up.
As for prices, I went to see Cloverfield on Friday evening (release day in the UK) with two friends, and it cost £22.50 ($44), and that's with student discounts that saved us £7.50. Tiny bottle of cider cost me £2.80 ffs. They cost about £0.90 in any other shop. Complete ripoff, and no need for it.
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reply
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Something Extra... Not a good business model!
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Re: Something Extra... Not a good business model!
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Movie theaters usually own a monopoly in a city where in any given area all the theaters around are owned by the same parent company. So they know that even if a customer is pissed off at Kinetika 10 they can march down to Hollymike theater and still be paying the same company.
They have no motivation to do anything until they stop having to share so much profit with the movie industry.
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For the theater to stay in business they raise the prices at concessions. Their goal is $3 per ticket spent at the concession stands. That is: sell overly priced concessions because only a few patrons are going to buy food or drinks, so they can make their $3 per ticket goal.
My look at it is this (and they don't care to even listen):
Say you bring your partner out for a night at the movies. Spend $10 a ticket ($20 Spent at the Box Office) and spend about $25 for 2 "Value" meals (popcorn, soda, candy).
That is a total of $45 dollars to go watch one movie for one couple! How about a family movie night out??? No wonder why no one wants to buy concessions ("I could of spent $20 dollars to watch this movie and snuck some concessions in or went out to eat before or after with the other $25" and got more for my money).
So I say, "How about raise the prices at Box Office $2 and sell the concessions at a normal price(like the prices from Walmart-That sells the same candy)." Collect the $2 per ticket each night at box office and the theatre only needs to make $1 at concessions per ticket. This will influence more patrons to buy concessions because they are priced normally, and there will also be less food snuck it.
Lets look back at that $45 dollars spent. Now they are paying $12 per ticket ($24 dollars total at box office). But only spending about $6 - $7 dollars at concession. Now the theatre made their $3 per ticket ($2-Box Office $...Concessions) and will probably bring in more concessions as patrons see the prices are now competitive. Now the price per couple is $30. Down $15. It's a win win for both theatre and patrons.
Time for a business model change? Ya Think! The extra money can be brought in to pay the low paid employees more and get better service, or even hire more employees because the concessions lines are always so long.
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Rooftop
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Re #31 & Ticket Prices
I live in Michigan and enjoy going to the theatres for the social type experience.
On Sundays at a theatre that went up about 2 years ago now, it is only 4$ for any ticket before noon. Even for the evening the highest priced tickets are 7$. They just added an IMAX to that too. =)
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