Baby steps… to the end of the world?
March 26, 2008
So, the crazy cats at South Park have put all their episodes online. It’s only in beta form, and I’m sure there’ll be a bit of tweaking here and there, but it’s another little sign of creators of content bypassing distributors. The South Park episodes are free, but not having watched one yet (I’m at work, where I dearly wish streaming cartoon kids with potty mouths was ok, but sadly…) I’m not sure if there’s advertising through them at all. There’s a couple of ad spaces on the main page, so maybe that covers it and the episodes are un-adulterated.
It’s interesting that they’re even putting up stuff that’s just screened. I guess they’ve signed a new deal with whoever their network is, to the effect that they’re free to do whatever they like with their content once it’s been screened commercially. (Although Comedy Central are still listed as copyright-holders.) But I’m pretty sure most distributors/publishers/etc. would have a withering smile and shiny lawyer for any other content-creator that wanted to have that level of copyright and control over their work. I guess once you’ve ‘made it’ you’re more likely to get your way.
It’s pretty exciting that stuff like this is happening, but at the moment it seems that you can only really afford to stick it to the man if you’re Radiohead or Matt Stone. (Oh sure, you can be Joe Schmo and put your songs on MySpace, but really, break-out internet hits are positively swamped by the freaking ocean of crap that’s out there.) What I’m wondering is, if the content-creator’s revolution is really successful, and no-one ever has to give money to EMI ever again, what will happen to the whole way we entertain ourselves? What will become of JB HiFi (bless their yellow cotton socks)? Will I still have a job? (Not with JB, with the book publisher I work for.) Or are there enough drones of the status quo happy to watch TV and buy CDs they way they always have? Somehow I don’t think so…
Thanks to Matt Gierhart who inspired this rant.
*Since posting this, I’ve stumbled across a little post on the world of alternative (and mostly online) places to sell your music, if you don’t happen to be Thom Yorke. Looks like the New World Order is well underway!
March 26, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I think the point that I get the most is that because of the internet (good or bad) the delivery must change. There is a fantastic article in last month’s wired (cover: free software, not apple=genius/evil) going through the issue and its history.
We are used to the internet as a delivery method, be it as simple as information from wikipedia. For music and other media to not embrace that will leave us with the pirates. Either way it will be available to us, I hope that TV follows the lead of South Park and others to embrace this new distribution so you can have jobs so artist who make these amazing things don’t have to have day jobs. Music industry missed the boat, and now they are in this knee jerk reaction mode sewing people left and right and letting the RIAA say obscene things like ripping a CD you own to your computer is illegal.
March 27, 2008 at 7:24 am
Oh ya, times they are a changin’. It’s mind-boggling to me to watch the pace at which the web 2.0/social networking/DIY/user-generated content/stick-it-to-the-man/youtube generation is embracing this revolution. Whereas most people online were simply observers, now more and more people are contributors. Just imagine what will happen once the kids who are growing up now - where this is the norm - reach their teens and 20’s!
While this phenomenon is touching all sorts of different industries and facets of modern life, I think the music industry will see some of the most stunning evolutions in this respect.
April 2, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I think you’re right, Sandra. Somehow the music industry is more susceptible to the changes because if you have the talent and the know-how (actually, talent is sometimes optional), you really can bypass the traditional modes of distribution quite easily.
It’s still not clear what the impact will be in other forms of media though… I guess a lot of it depends on overheads. If you have GarageBand, you can almost do it all on your own, but it’s a little more difficult to make films without paying actors…
(And Matt, it really is obscene of the RIAA to say ripping a disc you own is illegal. So much of the industry has failed to see this whole thing evolving. Dinosaurs, I tell you!)
Hmmm… I feel a new post coming on!