Content as a Service: Artificial Scarcity and the Post-Ownership Economy

CaaS

@movie_pundit

Content as a Service: Artificial Scarcity and the Post-Ownership

Economy

David Dylan Thomas

Capitol Records Complaint

“ReDigi makes and assists its users in making systematic, repeated and unauthorized reproductions and distributions of Plaintiffs copyrighted sound recordings.”

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

“Digital Files Are Not Material Objects Subject to the Distribution Right”

“The statute is quite plain. It is clear that digital music files, which are not material objects, are therefore neither copies nor phonorecords, hence not subject to the distribution right. If they were to be considered material objects, copies, or phonorecords within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. 106(3), they would also have to be considered material objects, copies, or phonorecords within the meaning of 17 U.S.C. 109(a), hence exempt anyway – in ReDigi’s case – under the First Sale Doctrine (discussed infra).”

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

Is This True?

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

No Dice, Grandma

“It is beside the point that the original phonorecord no longer exists. It matters only that a new phonorecord has been created.”

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

What the Hell Is a “Phonorecord”?

“…material objects in which sounds, other than those accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work, are fixed.”

-United States Copyright Act of 1976

(yup, 1976)

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

No Dice, Grandma

“It is beside the point that the original phonorecord no longer exists. It matters only that a new phonorecord has been created.”

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

Illegal Copy

How to Resell Your MP3’s

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

How to Resell Your MP3’s

All you have to do is sell your “ 'particular' phonorecord, be it a computer hard disk, iPod, or other memory device onto which the file was originally downloaded.”

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

How we pay for a thing is tied to how we think about that thing.

Desirable + Scarce = Expensive

Desirable + Common = Cheap

Desirable + Scarce = Expensive

Desirable + Common = Cheap

Desirable + Infinitely Replicable = ???

Artificial Scarcity

Artificial Scarcity

This. Breaks. Easily.

Record companies want you to treat digital goods like physical goods, until they don’t.

Publishing Is Next

Why Licensing Won’t Work

The Way We Think About Content ≠ How We Pay for It

(Judge punts on this…)

Why can’t you sell a used MP3?

Why can’t you sell a used MP3?

Because there is no such thing!

Even These Children Figured It Out

“Physical copies of works degrade with time and use, making used copies less desirable than new ones. Digital information does not degrade, and can be reproduced perfectly on a recipient’s computer. The ‘used’ copy is just as desirable as (in fact, is indistinguishable from) a new copy of the same work. Time, space, effort and cost no longer act as barriers to the movement of copies, since digital copies can be transmitted nearly instantaneously anywhere in the world with minimal effort and negligible cost. The need to transport physical copies of works, which acts as a natural brake on the effect of resales on the copyright owner’s market, no longer exists in the realm of digital transmissions.”

- U.S. Copyright Office Report to Congress, 2001

Entropy is what keeps the physical market afloat.

In digital content, the idea of an “original” and a “copy” ceases to exist,

and we don’t have an economy for that.

In digital content, the idea of an “original” and a “copy” ceases to exist,

and we don’t have an economy for that.

(But we do have a way to think about it….)

3 Kinds of Sharing

3 Kinds of Sharing

3 Kinds of Sharing

3 Kinds of Sharing

3 Kinds of Sharing

3 Kinds of Sharing

Content = Information

• It doesn’t just represent information

• It doesn’t just contain information

• It doesn’t just point to information

• It is itself information

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

Is there a way to think about monetizing content that aligns with

its fundamental nature?

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

Content as a Service

This Is Not Scarce This Is

Goods Are Going Away

Goods Are Going Away

Someone in Power Actually Said This…

"We just don't think that ownership will be around in the future."

- Richard Wellerstein, VP, Content Acquisition, AT&T

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

Access Over Ownership

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

Consumption Today

• Things magically appear when I need them.

• They go away when I don’t.

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

Producing Ownership Is Expensive

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

No, really, goods are going away.

There is no ONE approach,

but here is AN approach…

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

It is a future of agile solutions, not inflexible ones.

Content as a Service

This Is Not Scarce This Is

Crowdsourced Patronage

Crowdsourced Patronage

Crowdsourced Patronage

Crowdsourced Patronage

Spoken Reasons has 1,000,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Spoken Reasons has 1,000,000 subscribers on YouTube.

If only 5% of them agreed to give him $1 a month, he would make $600,000 a year.

Spoken Reasons has 1,000,000 subscribers on YouTube.

If only 5% of them agreed to give him $1 a month, he would make $600,000 a year.

He doesn’t need Hollywood…

Spoken Reasons has 1,000,000 subscribers on YouTube.

If only 5% of them agreed to give him $1 a month, he would make $600,000 a year.

He doesn’t need Hollywood… …Hollywood needs him.

For the artist…

…crowdfunding is about not .

For the audience…

…crowdfunding is about not .

Artist Audience

Producer/DistributorFinal Cut

Gatekeeping

Pricing

Centralized Risk

Artist Audience

Platform

Final Cut Gatekeeping

Pricing

Distributed Risk

Not for everyone.

Creative Middle Class

Guess what costs $7 million?

Guess what costs $7 million?

The Hybrid Approach

The Hybrid Approach

The Hybrid Approach

Post-Ownership Economy

• Focus on artist, not art.

• Focus on audience, not distributor.

• Focus on passion, not product.

• Focus on access, not possession.

• Focus on relationship, not transaction.

David Dylan Thomas @movie_pundit

David Dylan Thomas

@movie_pundit

www.daviddylanthomas.com