Dying business models

The internet is taking over. We can all now get the things we want immediately, no waiting, no limit to the supply. Anything digital offered on a web site for download can give us an instant copy. This applies to publishing as it applies to music and films.

Loss of control

In this internet age media companies do not enjoy the same degree of control. They can't create artificial scarcity by with-holding content in one form and making it available later, nor can they dominate the delivery chain releasing CDs before downloads. For example showing films in cinemas 3 months before releasing the DVD, releasing hardback books 12 months before the paper back. Getting CDs in the shops before releasing tracks on iTunes.

And even the trick of releasing a film in USA before Europe, or a track to be played on Top of the Pops radio before it is on iTunes, is being broken down by the internet.

Pirate opportunity

Because when they do this, the file sharers have a field day, releasing the digital media on Pirate Bay. Because there is a demand that cannot otherwise be met. And people want it now.

And what about the price?

This is a problem, but there is another. Digital media pricing has eroded the perceived value of media. A book that sells in the shop in hard back for $35 is downloadable for $9.99, a 70% discount. So the public thinks the work has a value of only $9.99. In the end the publisher and author may make the same amount from the lower price. The same applies to music and films, the middleman, the printer, the CD maker, the retailer..., is cut out.