I have to admit that it was the movie industry that really made me realize that technology has played a major role in the damage of several businesses. But looking back, it is hard to believe that in 1977, the beginning of video rental stores, people in the movie industry fought the rental of movie cassettes, because they feared that it would hurt the selling of those films. If only those people saw how technology has changed, and what damage it has caused the film industry.
What used to be a very popular place to go, to get 2 hours of entertainment in our homes, Blockbuster, has now gone bankrupt. This is what made Jessica Vascellaro, Deputy Bureau Chief of Wall Street Journal’s Media and Marketing Bureau, state that “Technology is killing the video-rental store-and a piece of American culture with it.” Because people enjoy the delivery of what they want to them, they have turned to Netflix and on demand. You don’t have to get into your car and drive to a packed video-rental store to find that the movie/TV show that you were hoping to find, has been rented out, resulting in a wasted trip. Although Blockbuster has just now announced their bankruptcy, we have seen a change in the video-rental stores industry for the past decade. Just in 2007, the number of stores had decreased from 23,036 (in 1997) to 16,237. Video stores have been described as inconvenient.
Although video stores have seen more damage, they are not the only area of the movie industry that has been damaged in the technology craze. It is now just as easy to go online and download a brand new released film to be watched for free. The act of viewing the film online, for free, illegally is damaging the revenue that the film studio would receive from the sales of the tickets to see said film. But why would people want to go to the movies, pay a high price for a ticket, just to end up watching a movie that he/she absolutely hated? Also, why wouldn’t people want to watch the movie online in order to see if he/she liked it enough to pay the even higher price to buy the movie?
In order to really get a feel for these arguments about the damage that technology has caused the movie industry, you really need to visit: "How Piracy Threatens the Movie Industry" at http://www.helium.com/items/1023440-how-piracy-threatens-the-movie-industryas well as, watch the short movie "Watch digits: Technology Killed the Video Store via MarketWatch Online" at http://www.yidio.com/digits-technology-killed-the-video-store/id/2479605106.
Hope you enjoy!
Until next time,
Elizabeth
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I thought it was amusing that Jessica Vascellaro stated that “Technology is killing the video-rental store-and a piece of American culture with it.” Blockbuster opened in 1985. American culture is measured in very short slices of time.
ReplyDeletePiracy is a huge, unsolved problem for film and music. When a digital copy is a perfect duplication of your product (and it's free) there is little incentive to produce. People still enjoy the theater experience and buy tickets for first run showings. Television rights are still lucrative, but more home TV watching is now demand and internet based. That will only increase. Home theaters are becoming more like an in theater experience, and this will eventually have some affect on theater revenue.
Certain people I know download first run movies within days of release. Sometimes they find them before theatrical release. In China, vendors on the street offer brand new movies on DVD for a dollar (or two for a dollar). Piracy is huge in Asia. American movies are in great demand. They don't care if they buy pirated copies. The governments look the other way.
The music industry has similar problems. A lot of musicians have resigned themselves to the fact that much of their music is distributed for free. If they tour, they can make money. If they can't, or don't wish to tour, they have a huge problem in generating revenue.
Elizabeth, please solve these problems.