Doc Searls did a report on Intel’s Keynote and mentions the notion of where great material will be coming from which is you and me. David Berlind does a great job adding additional commentary on this whole media cartel, DRM story.
He makes the reasonable point that DRM is just way for the little guy, hardware or software, to be kept out of the game. Apple makes it a pain in the ass with formats and DRM and this “plays for sure” garbage is really a giant scam for control.
And, of course, “Do no Evil” is creating a DRM solution for TV content coming via Google and friends.
I went to Wal-Mart.
Las Vegas, with all the money flying around everywhere, has 19 stores located in and around town. CES is an amazing trade show to see all the latest and greatest everything. Geek heaven, Gadget city, etc, etc. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is where Sue and Sam six pack are spending those hard earned dollars made keeping the lights around here. It is where I do customer research, lots of it.
Let’s see what’s happening besides everyday low prices.
“Mommy, Johnny got 135 songs off of Limewire for free, can I have that on my computer?” (kid was no older then 5) 90 seconds later Mom is giving in to buying some Britney Spears stuff but not CDs.
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“Well, sir, you can download one of these music recording applications and then just take the files and put them onto anything you want. No, don’t worry, when done this way it will play on anything.”
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“Yes ma’am, any music device will play music files called MP3 files and, yes, you can just share them if you download them from….”
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Then, in the video aisle, $3.99 movies that, according the Jeremy, just fly off the shelf. “People love this stuff, it’s cheap, fun, etc.” And does Jeremy think anybody steals this stuff (aka RIP the DVD and post it)? Naah, sez this kid. Who the heck is going to waste time over 5 bux, you just buy it.
So to all those big shots running around Las Vegas in the VIP cars. All of you music, video, whatever execs, pressing flesh and telling everybody about new content this, distribution rights that, go talk Jeremy. It’s over. The 5 year old gets “free” and is doing free. The minimum wage employee at Wal-Mart is giving ad-hoc lessons on how to deal with media property that people actually understand. Make it cheap, people buy it and don’t steal it, whoduh thunk that!.
Lots happening at Wal-Mart. CES is running full tilt as well.
Your comment about "...make it cheap, people buy it and don’t steal it..." got me thinking about my home town, Shanghai, and how true it is; well, sort of. In Shanghai, you can buy 2 newly released music CDs for less than a buck, therefore most people in Shanghai don't bother downloading music from the web (i.e. stealing it)...it is cheaper to just copy music from the CD onto your comp (i.e. bandwidth/connection fees more expensive than the CDs). Then again even if you pay for the CD...being that its pirated and all...that is still stealing...but at least a price point has been established/identified...and I'm sure consumers would pay a couple more RMB for originals...music/media moguls take note...so yeah...I totally agree "make it cheap and they will come”
Posted by: Adam Bornstein | January 09, 2006 at 01:52
I buy a lot of stuff online and books and CDs wear out eventually, but they seem to last a whole lot longer than online business models.
Posted by: Kevin Speicher | January 10, 2006 at 15:46