Will Video Follow Music?
We are seeing a major shift in the world of television and video entertainment.
Originally, decades ago, television was free. Like radio, anyone with an antenna could tune in. Then there was the shift to cable television which became a "walled garden", allowing access only to those who paid for it.
Netflix was able to introduce a new model which took advantage of streaming. For a monthly fee, people could gain access to the content they contract.
The challenge with this is it resembles the early days of the Internet when operators such as AOL and Compuserve allowed only access to those member sites.
Now, we see Disney pulling their content from the likes of Netflix as they rolled out their own service. Disney+ is further creating Walled Gardens.
Perhaps the music industry is a model for what is about to take place.
Music was free for decades, enabling anyone to tune in. Once digitization occurred, sales of CDs went through the roof. The 1980s and 1990s saw all time high sales for the record companies.
At the turn of the century, Napster took things in another direction by enabling anyone with an Internet connection and a willingness to overlook copyright laws to download as much music as they wanted. The music industry responded be sending lawsuits out and petitioning Congress to increase the laws.
Next up, Apple entered with their closed ecosystem and Digital Rights Management. This resulted in the record industry going from a high of roughly $50 billion in sales around 2000 to half of that. Ironically, as DRM was enforced, piracy of music actually increased.
Finally, companies such as Spotify ended up altering the landscape again with the idea of a wide range platform of songs that were streamed. For no cost, a user could access whatever songs he or she wanted. The model used copied the traditional broadcast one where advertising was sold.
Interestingly enough, the largest audio distributor is a video platform. YouTube accounts for twice as any songs listened to as the rest of the industry combined. The open and easy access make it attractive to use. It is simple to share songs with others while enabling users to switch easily back and forth.
Open access and easy to use seem to be the key in trends going forward. Video is certainly segmented at this time. With Netflix, HBO, Disney, and others, it looks like the walls are going up. Unfortunately, information tends not to respond well to this type of system. Over time, users rebel by ceasing to partake in this model. Instead, the second something that is open appears, they jump on board.
This is worthy of watching since the video/broadcast world is a lot bigger than the music industry ever was.
There is a lot of money on the line.
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Posted via Steemleo