[02:13 PM EST - link]
has Big Content ever accepted the changes brought into the market for the benefit of the consumer? from piano rolls, to radio, to television, to cable TV, to cassette tapes, to the VCR, Big Content has been fighting every step of the way. it's no surprise that they're assailing everyone from Intel to Apple for destroying the American Way of Life.
what's strange is that every technology that makes it easier for us to consume media inevitably benefits the content producers. when the technology creates new distribution channels (as in the case with radio, television, and cable), content must be provided to fill those channels. when technology makes it easier for us to listen/watch/play when and where we want (as did the the VCR, audio compact cassette, compact disc, and Walkman-style personal stereo) we always created an upswing in the sales of "prerecorded" media.
the combination of the internet, digital file formats, and the devices that use them is a unique point in the history of Big Content. it's a shift in technology that combines changes in distribution and consumption to create opportunities that will dwarf the changes of the past for those who are clever enough to adapt. of course, Big Content doesn't see it that way.
with their overheated rhetoric -- their virtual criminalization of their customers -- and their aggressive legislative agenda, Big Content is not so much guilty of overreaching their power as they are of being underwhelming (if that's a word) in their imagination. their recipe is for "more of the same, but digital."
in its reaction so far, Big Content has spent most of its time trying to change information technology, consumer electronics, legislation, and our behavior. at no point have i heard of any serious effort by Big Content to change themselves. the first company to re-think the way they bring content to market -- the production process, the marketing, the pricing -- gets to dominate the 21st century.
