If an ecosystem like BitTorrent grows to 160 million users, it's not a piracy environment, it's just a new environment.

Getting your book in front of 160 million users is usually a good thing

"Pirate's Dilemma" author Matt Mason on BitTorrent.

by Jenn Webb@JennWebbComments: 715 April 2011

Excerpt:

What are some of the obstacles environments like BitTorrent face as promotion platforms?

Matt Mason: One of the biggest problems peer-to-peer technologies like BitTorrent have is the stigma of piracy, but P2P is actually a new and better way of distributing information. Piracy has been at the birth of every major new innovation in media, from the printing press to the recording industry to the film industry — all were birthed out of people doing disruptive, innovative things with content that earned them the label "pirate" (including Thomas Edison).

I think of piracy as a market signal — it signifies a change in consumer behavior that the market hasn't caught up with. If an ecosystem like BitTorrent grows to 160 million users, it's not a piracy environment, it's just a new environment. Media is an industry where the customer really is always right. If people are trying to get your content in a new way, the only smart thing to do is to find a sensible way to offer it to them there.


Very interesting argument here - read the full article on O'Reilly radar

Seriously? DirecTV plans $30 Premium VOD charge for films 8 weeks post release. Really? Piracy AHOY!

THEATER OWNERS VS. PREMIUM VOD VS. NETFLIX

Movies and television may be media’s most volatile business arenas, with battles opening up on a variety of fronts.

Theaters owners and studios are inching toward open war as D-Day nears for Thursday's DirecTV launch of premium VOD -- Hollywood’s daring move at last to reconfigure release windows by making current movies available sooner for home viewing.

Through DirecTV’s looming “Home Premium,” Sony, Time Warner's Warner Bros., Comcast-controlled Universal and News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox are aiming to accelerate movies to home screens eight weeks from theatrical release -- shrunken from an average of 12 -- at $30 per VOD rental.

Also read: Theater Owners Ready to Retaliate Over Premium VOD

Worried that moviegoers might skip the megaplex for the home couch, some top circuits reportedly are privately considering retaliation, including killing movie previews and lobby posters of upcoming movies as well as other financial counterattacks.

Read Johnnie L. Roberts' excellent, long & detailed post on thewrap.com

http://bit.ly/gOXzGj

Love that 202 pirates participated in study: Premium VOD Is Doomed If This Piracy Study Is Correct | paidContent

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Read Andrew Wallenstein's full article on paidcontent.org:

Excerpt from the Feb 15, 2011 article:

"The PwC study, which surveyed 202 adults last September who engaged in piracy, found that while 76 percent of respondents said “they are somewhat willing to pay a nominal fee if the content can be accessed closer to its release date,” consumers said they were willing to pay no more than $3 to download a movie and less than $1 for a TV program.

Note that’s “download,” which means to own, not the premium-VOD rental model. And it gets worse because even if the pricing was remotely comparable, two months is too long a wait: 83 percent of those willing to pay want the content within one month or less...."