[ExI] 'Copyright' (Was: Re: to my fellow renaissance life forms)

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: spike at rainier66.com <spike at rainier66.com> 
…

 

 

>…OK cool so what if… we transition to a time when anything that can be digitized is free to anyone who will download it, radio transitions to karaoke, musicians and authors work alone generally, actors work mostly alone. …spike

 

 

 

We can generalize this a bit.

 

If recorded works such as music and film transition toward performers working in smaller groups, ideally alone, for little if any, recompense, consider the business model in general.  

 

I am particularly interested in business models rather than what we like or don’t like, for consumer preferences are irrelevant if their money doesn’t somehow reach the content provider.  So let us consider the business model in general of future digital content providers, by going an indirect route.

 

During covid lockdowns, many restaurants have closed up.  Some of the locals attempted to re-open a few months ago, but with the variant, I notice plenty of the places vacated the premises and lowered their flags, particularly the high-end restaurants.  Those went down first.  But some thrived: fast food places with drive-thru windows.  Even during the lockdowns, those places were selling their wares as fast as they could throw it out the window.

 

OK then.  When the restrictions were relaxed, I noticed something interesting.  Some of the fast food places chose to not re-open their dining rooms.  Some of the accountants realized those were operating at a loss, for they were providing patrons with something that cost the restaurant money but didn’t necessarily attract additional business.  It was attracting homeless people however, who would sometimes sleep on the padded benches and bathe in the restrooms etc, which drove away customers and cost money to clean and maintein.  Covid shutdowns offered a solution: shut down the dining room, keep the drive-thru and the DoorDash roaring full speed ahead.

 

Result: fewer employees to pay, profits up, new business model emerged: drive thru only.  People work in smaller groups, the product being sold is arguably less desirable for there is no restroom available, nor table, and the local Red Lobster doesn’t have a drive thru window, but no matter, for it shut down forever a year ago last June.

 

One can look at it as a parallel process happening in the entertainment world: fewer big productions, replaced by smaller, more agile competitors creating a lower-cost alternative, the business analog of the dinosaurs vs the mammals when the covid asteroid came along and created the KT boundary.  Advantage mammals.  Hey no worries, I like mammals.  I like them a lot.  Much better than dinosaurs.

 

I will leave you with a pleasant thought.  Kurt Kuenne, the son of a colleague created this short video which I thought was great.  He did it on a shoestring budget while working a 9 to 5 at the Spaghetti Factory and going to drama school at night.  The actors were all volunteer, with only one, the main star, James Haven, with any previous acting experience (he is the son of actor Jon Voight.)  He did this video free for Kirk while they were classmates.  Note how little was spent.  Imagine movies were mostly this kind of thing, free, low cost productions, created by talented amateurs.  Well, OK.  

 

This one’s fun, free and is only 12 minutes.  I give you the future of cinema:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w9cKFiCrSU

 

spike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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