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stories filed under: "embracing"
Culture

Culture

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Apr 8th 2009 7:57pm


Filed Under:
embracing, piracy



Is The Idea Of Embracing 'Piracy' Finally Going Mainstream?

from the about-frickin'-time dept

For many years, a small group of people has been trying to explain to the world of folks who freak out about "piracy" that there really are tons of opportunities in not trying to prevent it, but simply flipping it around, and using it to your own advantage as a part of your business model. The steps to doing so really aren't that difficult, but since many people have a natural aversion to "piracy," it's sometimes difficult for people to see beyond the big fat "free" to the huge opportunity right behind it.

Might that finally be changing?

MIT's Technology Review has an article about how a variety of companies are finally starting to push the idea that content providers should embrace piracy, and put together business models that take advantage of what piracy really can be: a free input into a larger business model, that provides free promotion and free distribution, while enabling a number of new (previously impossible) business models. Nothing in the article will be all that new to folks who've been around here for a while -- but it's somewhat encouraging to see the concept getting slightly more widespread acceptance.

23 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Too Much Free Time

Too Much Free Time

by Dennis Yang

Thu, Mar 5th 2009 4:21pm


Filed Under:
embracing, reviews

Companies:
delfina pizza, yelp



SF Pizzeria Puts 1-Star Yelp Reviews On Its T-Shirts

from the never-met-a-pizza-i-didn't-love dept

With all of the recent news about merchants up in arms over negative online reviews, a San Francisco pizzeria has decided to take a brilliant approach to the (albeit few) negative Yelp reviews about their restaurant. In a sort of "take back the night" approach, Delfina Pizza has adorned its staff with t-shirts that bear the text of their 1-star reviews. With sayings like "The pizza was soooo greasy. I am assuming this was in part due to the pig fat," Delfina boldly acknowledges that it understands everyone is a critic, and that it is not afraid of a bad review or two. Gone are the Ratatouille days where restaurants live or die by one star of some food critic's review; instead, perhaps restaurateurs will learn that reviews are a starting point for holding meaningful conversations with their customers. Of course, in this particular case, the strategy may backfire -- already one Yelp reviewer has submitted a 1-star review asking "am i good enough for a t-shirt now?"

9 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Studies

Studies

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Aug 5th 2008 8:03am


Filed Under:
embracing, piracy, recording industry, studies

Companies:
big champagne, mcps-prs



Industry Study Says Recording Industry Should Embrace Piracy... Sorta

from the not-quite dept

Slashdot points us to the news that a new study, by the MCPS-PRS Alliance, which represents music rights holders, and Big Champagne, a company that measures file sharing activity claims that the music industry should embrace piracy rather than continuing to fight it. Specifically, it points to the success of Radiohead's "name your own price" promotion, and the fact that the music was still widely available on BitTorrent, even though you could download it for free from Radiohead's own site. This, the study's authors, suggest, show that stopping piracy has little correlation to "success." That's not a surprising finding as plenty of previous reports have shown the same thing. In fact, albums that are considered a success tend to have a lot more unauthorized file sharing than those that are not. It's not hard to understand why, either: popularity is popularity.

Slashdot highlights the fact that this is a study done by the music industry itself, suggesting that maybe the industry is open to changing its strategy. But, that's not quite accurate. The "music industry" is made up of made different parts, with very different motivations. The two players who did this study are both angling for different benefits. Big Champagne has been around for years, and has established itself as the sort of "go to" player for the industry in monitoring file sharing. The more the industry embraces file sharing, the more business Big Champagne gets. As for the MCPS-PRS Alliance -- that represents songwriters, composers and publishers -- not necessarily the labels. MCPS-PRS is looking to establish a new set of draconian compulsory licensing system, where you could still make use of file sharing, but where it would (perhaps with Big Champagne's help) get paid for every download through some sort of system, whether sharing in the ad revenue or through subscription fees. This is the deal it's already worked out with Google's YouTube, even though it's unclear what legal basis there is for such an agreement.

So, this study is hardly the "music industry" embracing file sharing, but a very biased part of that industry trying to push the rest of the industry towards compulsory licenses and an effective "music tax" on file sharing.

10 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Overhype

Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Apr 2nd 2008 10:36am


Filed Under:
authors, business models, embracing, free, piracy, uk



Despite Inflammatory Headline, UK Authors Society Looking To Embrace Free, Not Fight The Internet

from the history-says-otherwise dept

There's a really inflammatory headline and opening paragraph in an article in the Times Online in the UK stating that "book piracy on the internet will ultimately drive authors to stop writing." This claim is actually unsubstantiated by history (which has actually shown book piracy ends up helping authors) or, actually, by the rest of the article. Rather than a reactionary RIAA-style response from the UK's Society of Authors, the article shows that the group isn't so much fearing internet piracy, but simply noting that business models need to change. Once you get beyond the headline and first paragraph, it's actually a rather refreshing article, as the head of the Society of Authors basically says that new business models are needed, and even suggests a few.

This isn't a "doom and gloom" story as the opening suggests, but rather a "let's figure out how to change before it's forced upon us uncomfortably." While many are covering this story as if the authors group is acting like the RIAA, the head of the Society even notes: "We have to evolve and create a very different pay system, possibly by making the content available free to all and finding a way to get paid separately." That seems like a rather reasonable and thoughtful approach to a changing marketplace, rather than a "sky is falling! run! run! run! sue! sue! sue!" response. The group seems to recognize that shared files can act as promotion, and the article even highlights the story of the first known literary "pirates" who were later applauded by the author, who was thrilled at the publicity the piracy generated.

This actually is a really interesting (and even surprising) recognition by authors that the business model they're used to is changing. It's just too bad that the Times Online chose to portray it in a totally inaccurate manner.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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