South Park's Matt Stone To Silicon Valley: Screw You Guys, I'm Going Hulu
from the not-really-stickin'-it-to-the-man dept
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have built an entire comedy empire on the back of free distribution. The pair first came to fame by circulating their animated short, The Spirit of Christmas, for free first as a popular bootleg VHS and later on the Internet. They also were among the first TV show creators to operate their own web portal to provide content for free, striking a (at the time) groundbreaking 50/50 ad revenue sharing deal with Viacom. They were the grandfathers of viral content, with free distribution leading them to the mammoth financial and critical success South Park saw at its peak, and continues to enjoy today.So with the news that Parker and Stone have struck a new, $192 million exclusive, walled off South Park streaming deal with Hulu, it's a little odd to see Stone suddenly forget what made much of his rise to success possible. In an interview discussing the huge Hulu deal, Stone laments how amorphous, villainous "tech guys" demanded he make his content available online, for free:
"This is now particularly satisfying," said Stone in a recent discussion. "It comes full circle since the tech guys came to Hollywood and said you better give us your stuff for free to put online or else it will be taken from you anyway."The argument that "tech guys" just want everything to be free is a fairly normal response by those who don't understand the digital economy, and are informed that you can reduce piracy by incorporating free into your business model. But again, this is a particularly weird comment coming from Stone, whose entire career foundation was built on such models (apparently begrudgingly). That freemium models help reduce piracy is something Stone appeared to understand perfectly well when talking to Boing Boing back in 2008:
"Basically, we just got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time. So we gave ourselves a legal alternative."Both Stone and Parker also seemed to perfectly understand the benefit viral, free distribution had when talking to the New York Times in 2010 about their continued success:
"NY Times: You’re now about two years into the operation of your South Park Studios Web site, where just about all the content is available for free. Does the gamble seem to be paying off?Yet here we are, the better part of a decade later, with Stone clearly annoyed by what he insists is Silicon Valley's demand that he not get paid for his hard work:
PARKER: To be honest, we don’t care about the money. We both have all the money we need. It’s really just about the survival of the show. First hearing about, O.K., we’re going to be putting everything on the Internet for free, I was like, Really? Wow, O.K. [laughs] That’s the world we live in. I’m actually surprised at how smooth the transition is going.
STONE: If we had years and years to discuss it, and we had determined what the right course of action was – but we don’t have years and years. We’re doing the show right now in 2010, and the reality is, we have to have our show on the Internet. Would the network like it if everyone who watched it for free on the Internet actually had to pay? Yes. But it always ends up helping us when people can see the show.
"Frankly, in the past I haven't much liked dealing with the people from Silicon Valley. I don’t like our stuff being talked about as content. Spoons are metal and guns are metal, but they're not the same thing. We don’t make content. We make television. And that's now what digital understands it has to pay for."Arguing that "content" is a reductive word is understandable, but this narrative that ambiguous "digital" enemies in Silicon Valley don't want to pay for television programming is odd, since "digital" has been paying an arm and a leg for content since inception. Netflix, for example, is expected to spend as much as $5 billion in 2016 on programming, making the streaming operator the second largest content buyer behind ESPN. Does that strike you as a "digital" industry that doesn't think there's a price tag for quality television? Perhaps Stone is just developing a nasty case of "get the hell off my lawn" and no longer has the best memory, perched as he is upon precariously-leaning towers of money.
Streaming companies, broadcasters, and content creators alike also don't appear to understand the potential pitfalls these exclusive streaming arrangements create. While 2015 has been a banner year for the evolution of internet video by any standard, there's been a troubling rise in not only exclusive content deals (Hulu, owned by Comcast/NBC, also shelled out $160 million for exclusive streaming rights to Seinfeld), but also standalone streaming services from every broadcaster under the sun (even those B-grade schlock masters over at Lifetime), each of which is going to be eager to lock their own content down exclusively to keep it out of the hands of more successful third-party operators.
While streaming operators might correctly believe that having exclusive access to select programming can lure customers in the short run, fracturing the content availability landscape in such a fashion could have some nasty downsides. Making consumers hunt and peck their way through an endless variety of $7 to $40 streaming packages for what they want might easily drive annoyed consumers back to piracy (something we've been saying for years). Streaming operators also risk driving those users back to cable if the industry ever wakes up and decides to offer a more uniform value proposition. Right now that's not a risk, since cable execs are still obliviously raising rates in the face of increased competition; but it will be.
Internet video was supposed to be something different and better, built on the legacy dinosaur bones of an industry obsessed with turf protection and utterly terrified of disruption. There were notable lessons learned during internet video's rise during this period; hopefully they're not all mysteriously and suddenly forgotten just as internet video starts reaching its true potential and the money truly begins to flow.
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Filed Under: digital, free, matt stone, sharing, silicon valley, south park, walled garden
Companies: hulu
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Every everything is available on torrent sites, Usenet, file lockers etc.
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Same old story: gets rich, feels entitled
It's obvious that even people who come from poor backgrounds but get rich later (I have no idea if this applies to Matt Stone) feel entitled when they are rich.
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Correct me if i'm wrong
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That was then, this is now. When starting, different methods apply. And people change when are rich. What's difficult to understand?
Like so much else, this is entirely predictable, yet you write them up every time as if ignorant of history and human nature.
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Re: That was then, this is now. When starting, different methods apply. And people change when are rich. What's difficult to understand?
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Re: Re: That was then, this is now. When starting, different methods apply. And people change when are rich. What's difficult to understand?
Yeah, Blue actually gave a little chuckle with that one.
The regulations concerning pet rocks are the exact same regulations we always have had concerning any rock since, well pretty much forever. Don't hit other people in the head with them, don't trow them through other people's windows, etc.
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Re: Re: Re: That was then, this is now. When starting, different methods apply. And people change when are rich. What's difficult to understand?
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ever wonder why the subjects are so long?
He knows his ramblings are gonna get flagged. I mean, they never make any sense, so why wouldn't they? But (and I gotta give him credit here) he knows enough to put whichever dead horse he wants to beat that day in the subject. That way he knows that despite being flagged he's gonna get "his message" out because people can't help themselves and reply to him and keep his title intact.
It's really kind of sad.
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Re: Re: That was then, this is now. When starting, different methods apply. And people change when are rich. What's difficult to understand?
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Re: That was then, this is now. When starting, different methods apply. And people change when are rich. What's difficult to understand?
While anarchy is lawless in a sense, it often far from criminal, so citations please if you are implying criminal activity. Innovators creating businesses that subsequently fail is a characteristic of new markets, and is how they evolve. When heavy regulation and laws comes in innovation almost ceases, as shown by the RIAA/MPAA members.
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Bwahahahaha
but then, we hear the same stuff in other sectors of human behavior. "You are stupid for discussing it, it will never change, and there are (god did it / evolutionary / socioeconomic) reasons that things are the way they are and you should accept / embrace the current status quo. And besides, I didn't actually read what you wrote."
Sure, people act like that. Even more act like you. Which gives the high end minority their power.
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Re: That was then, this is now. When starting, different methods apply. And people change when are rich. What's difficult to understand?
Let's be honest, who amongst us wouldn't forego "free" distribution and espouse anti-piracy when you are literally offered millions of dollars.
You better bet your arse I would.
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they picked wrong
Look if you want to be on a streaming site, be on Netflix. It isn't perfect - it pushes DRM - but it has no ads, modern HTML5, is available on every platform I use and more. If you are a content owner and want to be exclusive on one of these types of streaming sites, Netflix is, at present, the best (and only) authorized alternative to "piracy".
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Re: they picked wrong
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... and?
Why should they change if you, and others, are still going to throw money at their crap service?
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Let's not forget that the initial prospect of cable tv was to pay to watch uncensored commercial free TV back in the 80s. Which is why I cut the cord the moment they started doing the exact opposite. And they wonder why piracy is such an issue?
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XBMC all the way
We do have Netflix on small RCA Roku-wannabes in the kids rooms, but that's it. We can still watch all the current shows and go back and watch the first episodes of Family Guy, American Dad, Southpark, hell ER if we wanted to. And I can watch most live sports from around the world without blackouts.
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Hack Failure By 2nd Sentence
Yeesh, the audio-only MP3 format was only invented in 1995; MPEG-2 didn't come until 1996; and most people were still on dial-up, so how exactly did Matt & Trey come "to fame by circulating their animated short...for free on the Internet"? A: They didn't.
I get that tech media is written and consumed by millennials who believe history began when Nevermind was released, but to those who are older and have actual experiential memories because WE LIVED IT, hack crap like stuff is inexcusable and harmful to knowledge in general.
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Re: Hack Failure By 2nd Sentence
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Mythological Trey & Matt History...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park
As for Trey and Matt going Hulu: It's their work. They can do what they like with it. I'm grateful they offered it for free, with ads, for so many years on the net.
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Re: Mythological Trey & Matt History...
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Re: Mythological Trey & Matt History...
Good thing no one said otherwise.
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Re: Mythological Trey & Matt History...
And you're right, it's their work, and they can do what they want with it. It's only going to reduce their overall viewership, end up making them less money, and increase piracy rates.
Or are you so naïve you believe that putting the episodes on Hulu Plus is going to make a bit of difference?
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Want to watch it in Canada?
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Silicon Valley To Matt Stone: Enjoy the kool aid...
Please note: You contract does not cover, various forms of streaming not mentioned in the contract, licencing on VR platforms, BCI (Brain Computer Interfaces), Memory Implants, Personal Memory uploads, etc. It also includes licencing payment exceptions for, but not limited to, foreign nations, other worlds, in earth orbit, and 300 plus other loosely worded exceptions.
ENJOY!!
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Really hulu
Thanks
Rory
http://wowfulgifts.com
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Money, Dear Boy.
And that way they don't have to work in Vegas or play Zeus on film.
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Requim - now 20% off retail price
Absolutely guaranteed.
Remember Google. "Don't be Evil."
The greater your pile of cash, the more money, time and effort you have to spend on simply protecting it from others.
Soon, "others" become the enemy and protecting your money is pretty much all you do beside make more of it.
And of course, the more of it you make, the more you need to protect it from others and the more it costs to protect it, thus necessitating the need to make even more of it just to protect what you already have.
As much as we all love the stuff, it is indeed the primary cause of all human civilization failures - barring natural disasters - and apparently, always will be, until the final civilization fails and all that is left of the human race, is a planet covered with vaults full of gold and paper currency and a billion traps to protect the vaults from ghosts.
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this content is not available in your country
Now with internet i saw the same crap. I dropped Netflix due to lack of content (without using VPN) and high resources needed to see a crappy 240p movie (and chopping frames).
Crackle is the only "legit" streaming service friendly with thirld world internet. Play, pause and go work. You can see shows when you return home. However, only holds content from Sony Pictures.
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It's all about control, and they're not wrong for wanting it
I certainly feel there's more of an honesty to that than hosting a site that contributes zero to humanity besides sharing everyone else's hard working and receiving infinite amounts of money from ad clicks.
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