Adapt or lose out

Adapt or lose out
By Chua Hian Hou

INTERNET piracy has changed the face of the entertainment media industry, and companies and individuals who refuse to adapt their business models to this new reality will lose out , said intellectual property experts.

Internet guru Andrew Keen, the keynote speaker at the Global Forum on Intellectual Property on Thursday, said the Net has triggered an 'economic and cultural rebellion' by consumers against the way the entertainment industry's traditional business model in selling CDs, books and movies tickets.

Today, unauthorised copies of movies, songs, and software can be downloaded from the Internet, at no cost, and consumers are lapping them up.

Over one million copies of hit movie The Dark Knight, for instance, was downloaded within a week of a pirated version's release online. Increasingly copyrighted books and magazines can also be obtained this way, from university textbooks to Dungeons and Dragons gamebooks. According to a Nielsen survey, one quarter of Net users in Singapore download movies, and one third download music, every month.

In fact, the entertainment industry's current business model is 'essentially dead already', alongside its attempts to maintain the status quo, said Mr Keen.

Copy-protection technologies have failed.

"Don't believe anyone who tells you content can be protected,' he said.

He also believes that lawsuits against consumers won't work, noting that even the Record Industry Association of America, the most aggressive industry watchdog in pursuing this strategy and pouring tremendous resources into such efforts, has abandoned this tact recently.

The industry, he said, should just accept the inevitable: that there will come a day when consumers 'will not pay' for content - and move on.

Those who stubbornly try to hang on, he said, will be 'out of business' within 10 years.

The European Commission's head of copyright and knowledge-based economy, Mr Tilman Lueder, speaking on the sidelines of the event, also shared Mr Keen's bleak assessment.

'Businesses need to adapt, to be more entrepreneurial,' said Mr Lueder.

For instance, he suggested a buffet-style 'subscription model', charging consumers a flat fee for music, movies and other content, rather than the current 'transactional' model selling content on a per item basis.

A number of music companies have launched such services in the last couple of years, albeit with limited success.

Meanwhile, the 'creative classes' like musicians and writers, said Mr Keen, could also consider other ways of making money, including seeking 'patronage' from companies and wealthy individuals.

Those sufficiently popular can also try to make money from say, charging for live concerts while giving away their music for free.

The entertainment industry, said Mr Lueder, has been "lost for a long time', but he was confident that there is money on the Internet to be made for with the right business models.

The two-day event, which started on Thursday, is held at the Raffles Convention Centre.

Opened by guest-of-honour Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee, speakers including Supreme Court judges, regulators, lawyers and human rights activists, discussed issues like Internet piracy, the counterfeit trade and fair competition with 400 participants from around the world.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_323465.html