MPAA vs. Their Customers - Round V
Mobile Jones has a new post with some very interesting thoughts about (and quotes from) the newest press release from the MPAA regarding their battle against the world internet pirates.
It is a shame that the RIAA’s tactics are rubbing off on the MPAA when, unlike the RIAA, the MPAA’s profits have been steadily increasing as the latest technological threats to their livelyhoods once again turn out to be the new source of their livelyhoods. The DVDs they fought so hard against (like the VCRs before them) are now one of the top (of not the highest) sources of income. The Sci-Fi Channel saw downloading create the biggest buzz a new science fiction show has had in decades and embraced the downloaders by offering Battlestar Galactica as a stream on their site. Why? Because the quality of content made new fans and cemented the opinions of the current fans. That is what quality does. A great movie makes people want to own it. A piss-poor movie makes people glad they watched it as a poor quality download from the comfort of their own sofa instead of blowing $16 on a pair of tickets to see a watermarked, medium quality version in a cold, loud, uncomfortable theater (not that all theaters are like that, but most of them are).
Rhapsody, iTunes, Napster, and Yahoo! are proof that the RIAA can be brought to their senses if you flash a little green in front of their noses, and there are a few legit movie download sites around (I’ve used MovieLink off and on for a few years) but it doesn’t take long to see that the movie download sites have quite a way to go before you can say they really get it. Clicking this MovieLink link should result in a “we’re too fucking stupid to allow you to browse unless you use IE on Windows” page, if you don’t get that message, either they’ve finally updated the site or you need to use a better browser. And a quick look at their offerings reveals an utter lack of intelligent pricing. Prime example: Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey for $4.99! WTF?!? I can only assume they are aiming for the “too damn drunk to drive to the video store and too damn young/drunk to remember what a disappointment that sequel was” crowd. That is a very narrow niche to aim for.
I wish they would fight to get to the new money instead of fighting to cling to the old but history is apparently a subject that the MPAA execs are not allowed to study.