Yet Another Study Shows That Hollywood's Own Bad Decisions Are Increasing The Amount Of Infringement
from the and-again-and-again dept
We've pointed out over and over again that the real way to stop infringement is to offer compelling legitimate services that are reasonably priced. Time and time again, throughout history, it's been shown that the real reason there's widespread piracy is because the content isn't available legally at all, or is available in a limited or inconvenient way. Make things easy, not locked down, convenient and reasonably priced, and tons of people pay. Books have been written about this. Studies have been done on this. And just the success of things like Netflix and Spotify show how this works wonders.Now there's a new study, once again, showing the same thing. Professors Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang (from Carnegie Mellon and Heinz College) have added some more evidence -- and it again suggests the "problem" isn't that the law isn't strong enough or that enforcement isn't draconian enough. It's that the industry still refuses to give customers what they want:
Our research suggests that Hollywood is leaving money on the table — and is in turn failing to address a root cause of piracy — by preserving its separate release windows. Based on our analysis of seven large nations, we find that in most countries, every week customers have to wait before they can buy a DVD translates into, on average, 1.8 percent lower DVD sales. Given that good-quality pirated versions are available close to 14 weeks before the legal versions, the losses can be in the millions of dollars. Not surprisingly, a 14-week delay also translates to a 70 percent increase in pirated movie downloads in those countries.The study basically found what many of us have been pointing out for ages: making things not available doesn't drive sales. It drives infringement. This is such a fundamental point, and it seems so obvious to many of us... but those in the industry still refuse to believe it. Now, some of the problem with the delays come from the theater owners, who flip out at any attempt to shorten windows, even if the "competing" options are priced ridiculously high.
But the studios themselves are frequently guilty of this same self-defeating thinking. Many are really pushing for rental delay windows, such as denying new movies to Netflix or Redbox until 28-days after they go on sale. One studio has broken ranks here: Paramount. That's the only studio that has made it clear that delaying movies doesn't increase sales. The other studios, though, still don't seem to get it, and don't realize that for people who want to see a movie, but are stymied due to a stupid release window, that they do have a few other options: (1) simply go away and forget the content entirely or (2) go find the content elsewhere. Neither scenario is good for the studios.
But the professors make the key point that the studios are going about this entirely backwards based on the data:
Together these results suggest that delaying content in the presence of digital channels is likely to cause consumers to lose interest in the product at best, and lead consumers to alternate pirated channels at worst. A better strategy would be to do the opposite: Make it easier for consumers to buy the content in physical and electronic channels. For motion picture studios this might mean selling content in theaters, on DVD and on digital services at around the same time, perhaps at different price points.Shocking. We've only been arguing for many years that you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched as you walk out of the theater (and if you show the ticket, you get a discount). It still amazes me that this is still not really being done -- even as the evidence piles up that moves like that would increase, not decrease revenue.
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Filed Under: day and date, hollywood, infringement, piracy, windows
Companies: mpaa
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"you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Copyright exists because content can't be locked up any other way.
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
People pay for the theater experience, not just the content.
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Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Where I live, the improvements we've seen (since they still don't have better sound systems and stadium seating,) is the group of teenage girls in the back of the theater giggling and talking during the movie and the nearly constant ringing of cell-phones. They even installed a couple people with laptops in the front of the theater doing office work while watching the movie.
And occasionally the movie projector has one of those energy saving bulbs which makes the movie hard to watch.
I'd much rather spend $25 to get the DVD the day the movie starts showing in the theaters and watch it at home on my 110' projector and 7.1 theater sound, where I can remove all the innovation upgrades the movie theaters add for free and watch the movie without distraction.
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Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
- Hanging out with friends before the movie.
- Watching the trailers.
- Getting to see the movie in a large, sharp screen, with good sound.
Speaking from my own experience, I know right away whether the movie is "ticket worthy" or "worth a rental". Why make me wait months to make good on a decision that's already done?
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
You're acting like this isn't already the case. Why not offer that option and pick up some extra cash, rather than "locking" it up (because it's already out there) and making nothing from the initial movie-goers?
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Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
I think 6-8 weeks is probably the shortest realistic window to do something like this and put out a product people won't be offended by, quality-wise.
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Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
With that said, I think the studios could easily work around all of those. I am no expert, but I cannot imagine how mastering a blu-ray in theater aspect ratios can be horribly hard when the movie is ready for theaters. The extras you mention could be dealt with by simply cutting them out for the initial "Theaterical Blu-Ray release".
And even if mastering does take longer than I think it does, I strongly suspect that time frame could be rapidly shrunk if there was a real profit-motive to find ways to shrink it, which there would be the moment studios started trying to make Blu-Rays for sale at the theater.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
I work for a large entertainment company, although not in their movie studio division. And I am firmly in the "reduce copyright back to 14 years" camp, as well as sharing most other positions on IP Techdirt espouses.
But I know lot of people in the production side of film, and know something about all the bandying about for release dates. Movies are like any other short term investment. The companies that make them want to get the return on their (sometimes borrowed) money as soon as possible. Which means they target the shortest production period they can get the actual movie makers to agree to, and the best (based on many factors but largely earliest) release date date they can lay a claim to before some other film does.
And no, mastering the movie for disk isn't a huge effort, but it does take several weeks, between mastering and encoding the video and audio, getting those masters out to a disk replication plant, the new step (studio's fault for insisting on their insane DRM) of making sure the produced disks work problem free in existing models of blu-ray players, then going to a full production run. Most decent directors also want to review this result and bless it as well.
And none of that can happen until the movie is complete, which, as I said, is very often not until a couple of weeks (or even days) before its premiere, during which time they are also dealing with making prints for the mostly still film based theater industry.
As for selling disks completely devoid of extras, they could, but it would require a lower price IMO, and would probably dilute some of the demand for the more profitable feature filled version down the road. Between that, and complicating their release date selection process or delaying premiere dates, I just don't see it happening in a risk averse industry like this.
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Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Initial release: No bonus footage, just the movie.
Production release: Add the bonus features.
Special release: More stuff.
Seriously, why do we have to do the thinking? For the people that want to see the movie closer to the release date the extras aren't that important.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
"Copyright exists because content can't be locked up any other way."
Isn't that the heart of the matter that we're discussing at Techdirt? If you lock up your content too much, then nobody can get at it, so they are forced to go to infringing methods.
And we're starting with the assumption that content must be locked up so you can profit from it. Explain that to open source companies, such as Red Hat, who don't sell the content, but instead things surrounding the content. As discussed previously, for movies that would be the theater experience or limited physical goods that you purchase with the DVD / Blu Ray. For music it is the merchandise and the concerts.
And, finally, people actually do pay for content when it is user friendly and easy to get to.
I contend that copyright exists not because it is the only way to lock up content, but because people are too afraid to find alternative methods to making a successful business.
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Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
You need a 12 step program for your inability to resist being a Troll. I'm sure there's a reasonable person hiding in there some where...
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
1- Work with us and companies like Spotify, Hulu, and Netflix. All the content to be seen when and where WE like for a reasonable price.
2- Die a slow painful death at our hands, while we still watch and listen to what we want and where we want.
Its up to them to get paid or have it pirated. Sticking your hands over yours ears going "NO NO NO, IM NOT LISTENING" is not going to change anything. Making it a felony with unrealistic penalties is not going to change it. Its just going to change how it gets pirated.
People have a strange way of not liking be told that they can and cannot do something because some company exec says so. They like it even less when that same company buys new laws to that same end.
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Please cite anywhere in any copyright law where this is the stated purpose of copyright.
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Re: Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
"Other than copyright, the only way to have the exclusive use of an idea is to come up with an idea nobody else can ever think of, then not share the idea with anyone."
Why should anyone have exclusive use of an idea?
Remember that copyright was never about protecting an idea at all, but the expression. Patents come closer, but even they don't really cover an entire idea, but the implementations of it (and things that are pure ideas like a mathematical formula cannot be patented.)
It is also worth remembering that even the rights which are secured by patents and copyrights are Constitutionally limited in time (even though that time has now become absurdly long).
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Apparently copyright can't lock it up either.
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. The study (and Masnick's spin on it) suggests that the studios could make MORE money simply by doing what they are now doing but faster. Release in theaters, then release on DVD, but without the long lag in between. The issue appears to be that the studios have (wrongly) assumed that you need to have a long lag that discourages people from waiting for the DVD in order to drive up theatrical views. The study figured out that this is wrong - even without the lag, people who did not see the movie in the theater likely would not have seen it in the theater even if they thought that was their only opportunity to ever see it.
The studios could sell the DVD at the concession stand in the theater. No ticket, no DVD. They could only sell the DVD prior to a certain date to people holding a ticket saying they had watched the movie, or as Mike suggests offer a discount to ticket-holders. They could do all manner of things other than stick their collective head in the sand and wish the world had not moved on.
It is neither necessary nor desirable to lock up content, and in any event there most certainly are other ways to do it (for instance, never publishing it). I believe what you meant to say was that the studios have not figured out a way to make money without a monopoly on their content, and given the availability of copyright they are unlikely to do so. With that, I agree wholeheartedly. I think Mike's overall point is that that fact is a terrible shame.
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
But to make the argument worse, those friends already "won't have to pay to see it". If they want to play by the rules they just wait a few months (assuming they remember by then they wanted to see it) and borrow it from their friends then. If they are willing to break the law, they probably could have seen it illegally before it was in theaters.
I personally would buy DVDs of some movies on the way out the door, especially kids movies since my kids would be right there then with it fresh on their minds trying to convince me to buy it.
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Re: Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
I remember at Christmas, we all used to go to the Theater to watch a movie, after the Christmas lunch was over.
As the family grew older, many of the grandparents weren't able to get out anymore.
Imagine a world where the kids still go, but the grandparents can still watch it at home, so they know what the kids are talking about when they get back.
So what happens now? None of us go.
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
It doesn't even need to have a physical presence just a wall of glass showing the products like Tesco's in South Korea, with people being able to pay for it using the Google Wallet or something.
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Re: SO that everyone those initial movie-goers know WON'T HAVE TO pay to see it? -- And you're SURPRISED that's not adopted?
Once you spot that pattern, you begin to see how predictable they all are. The only way to protect yourself from being seduced by these reasonable-sounding so-called "arguments" is to keep reminding yourself how evil piracy really is. No matter what the "facts" may appear to be, never let go of this ineluctable truth: piracy is so evil, that any "evidence" to the contrary is self-evidently the product of a deranged mind. QED.
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Re: "you should be able to buy the DVD of the movie you just watched"
Copyright was not put in place to lock up content. Hell, the digital world wasn't even a distant nightmare when the Statue of Anne was passed in Westminster.
It was passed to
(a) make sure writers were paid. Well kinda, anyway.
(b) much more importantly, prevent publishers from outdoing each other to release the same work by the same superstar poet of the day all on the same day. (Well, that era's version of the same day.) There was a lot of that happening then. I suppose you'd call it piracy.
(c) to encourage education which is hardly the same thing as locking something up forever plus 16 days lest there be a single descendant of the author left alive at that time.
I get it, you're as intellectually dishonest as well as a liar. Now please follow through on your promise and take your drivel elsewhere. I'd suggest Grocklaw but they have real life lawyers there who'd cut you to ribbons in seconds.
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In a Financial Context ...
If you compare those two options, aren't they the exact same outcome for the studios trying to sell DVDs? In both cases they don't get my money.
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Why hasn't anyone pointed out the obvious?
If the primary purpose is to create art, then the money is secondary and the discussion should be centered on how to create more art, not how to create more money...
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Re: Why hasn't anyone pointed out the obvious?
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Re: Why hasn't anyone pointed out the obvious?
If you want art, you are probably going to be watching independent or foreign cinema, NOT the dreck Hollywood keeps pumping out!
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...Nah, Hollywood'd never give them the latitude they'd need to make it work. "They only pay ONCE, and they get to watch the movie anytime, on any computer, forever?! Are you INSANE?!"
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Wait, doesn't this support the maximalists?
As represented in the article, the study does not suss out how much of the 1.8% is due to downloads and how much is due to loss of interest. But this at least provides _some_ basis for the claims of serious economic loss.
I do understand the point of the study - it doesn't matter how much harm can be traced to infringement, the fact is the infringement will occur. Thus, studios can either come to terms with that and fix their practices to deal with it, or keep running headlong into walls with their eyes closed.
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3rd option
or (3) wait for the delay for the rental to become available.
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Re: 3rd option
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Theater owners missed opportunty
Wouldn't it be great if theaters themselves could sell the DVD while the movie was running? What a marketing opportunity and revenue stream for them.
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A business plan
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Re: A business plan
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Re: Re: A business plan
the other, much simpler plan, is to let theatres die. price gouging and people spreading their colds, crying babies, can't pause... etc. if you like the "big" screen, i suggest you sit closer to your TV at home.
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It's all the same
They can suck it.
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Re: It's all the same
Been there and done that.....4 years running now!
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Re: It's all the same
Have you tried Go? Far more entertaining than any movie.
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Re:
oh wow... recursion...
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Water wet.
Ice cold.
Fire bad.
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Water wet.
Ice cold.
Fire bad.
Shouldn't that be "Fire hot"? Fire is only bad when it's unintentional.
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Put a bar on it where people have internet access and a wall with the listing of products make it look good like the Tesco Homeplus Virtual Subway Store, put a lot of cool vending machines in front of people and let the movie do its magic LoL
http://www.toxel.com/tech/2009/06/08/14-cool-vending-machines-from-japan/
There are even vending machines with facial recocgnition software already that can infer the age, gender and propose sales.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20018835-1.html
And make it easy to buy those things using plastic, cellphone, money or anything that can be used as currency.
http://www.google.com/wallet/
But no, they need to go after pirates instead of selling pirate apparel directly from the source.
How many people would have bought the hat Jack Sparrow was using on the movie after seeing it on the spot?
And it probably would fetch more than the DVD.
How many kids would go out and bug their parents for the Thor's hammer?
That until exclusive contracts with manufacturer's start cropping all over the place than there would be nothing much people would want to buy, those exclusive contracts would kill experimentation and the chance to see what is being profitable or not.
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A friend of me told me how good The Artist was. I thought it sounded dumb and decided to wait for the DVD or even skip it. Then I saw on in an airplane for free.
I loved it and I've been to the theatre twice. At my second big-screen visit I brought a friend, who also thought she wouldn't like it. She loved it and is telling all her friends. I also have mentioned it to a few other friends, who say they plan to see it.
That free viewing on the airplane resulted in three theatre tickets being bought that I know of, and possibly quite a few more as the friends we've told go to theatres.
If I hadn't seen it in the airplane, I would have waited until the DVD and maybe forgotten about it entirely. In my opinion pitching all the products you can while the item is top of mind is a great idea. People's memories just aren't that long.
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