Paul Glazowski has a great article over at Mashable on how attempts to suspend BitTorrent trackers in an effort to counter file sharing are only the last gasp of a myopic old media.

For more on all things file sharing and the emergence of compelling business models in this space, please do check out TorrentFreak.

‘So it bears repeating, even if it entails beating the dead horse deader still, that action against users of BitTorrent is not any way to make progress in the media distribution industry. Instead, employing the protocol to try to play the game better than the non-legal crowd is the way make a qualitative, and thus quantitative impact. Otherwise the market will go nowhere.’

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Josh Catone adds succor to an idea I’ve been touting for a while about releasing a movie simultaneously via a BitTorrent client, on DVD and in the cinemas.

Current movie distribution divides movie watchers into two categories:

Cinema Goers

DVD Buyers/Renters

When in the fact there is a third, much maligned, much neglected but far larger audience mass:

The Digital User

Like the ex-Talent Agent Tech Zealot that I am, I’ve spent the past 4 years researching patterns and distribution volumes in online pirate movie distribution and the era of DVD-Rips.

This is a potential audience conservatively estimated at 80 million, give them an authorised film rather than a recorded cinema rip, give them additional content and charge them a nominal sum, say $5 per download and sit back and let them talk up your movie to their friends, the same friends who will be either Cinema Goers, DVDers, or Digital Users.

As Hulu and the BBC iPlayer record downloads north of 75 million so movie distribution must also face up to the fact ‘event users’ those who make a night of a trip to the cinema and look forward to a Nandos after the main feature, are a distinct user, not the totality.

UPDATE: Mininova will shortly record 5 billion downloads. That’s a big audience.

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So says 50 Cent (via TorrentFreak):

Q: “How are G-Unit Records doing in these times of file-sharing?

“Not so good….The advances in technology impacts everyone, and we all must adapt. Most of all hip-hop, a style of music dependent upon a youthful audience. This market consists of individuals embracing innovations faster than the fans of classical and jazz music.”

“What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists.”

“A young fan may be just as devout and dedicated no matter if he bought it or stole it.”

“The concerts are crowded and the industry must understand that they have to manage all the 360 degrees around an artist. Read the rest of this entry »

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Marketing is about identifying your target audience, building a profile of them and then crawling inside their focus group created heads and thinking ‘what would make me buy FaceRash shaving foam?’… for the most part the answer is humour and a scantily clad lady. Ricky Gervais with breasts.

Ok so we wouldn’t win that pitch, in the same way that the MPAA will never win the war against the file sharing community. For every site that is shut down another appears, bigger, bolder with a little bit more ajax sprinkled about and touting the latest Harry Potter.

Most likely the quality sucks and if you’re lucky no one gets up to go to the loo during the illicit filming.

The studio lawyers wade in, the MPAA wades in and one or two pirates get fined and gain mythic hero status amongst the file sharing community. It’s kinda the old(er) and litigious versus the young(ish) and liberal and as a generation matures that has only ever known p2p file sharing, so the lack of regard for copyright becomes more entrenched.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Great article over at Torrentfreak about the porn industries attempts to thwart pirates ripping their material and uploading it to bittorrent.

Seems like the pornorati over at the GoFuckYourself forum are up in arms about 4% of their nefarious profits being taken by file sharers.

(xylophone… )

The post finishes with this note by ButterBuddah:

“The fight for that 4% will ruin the industry…”

Go knock yourselves out guys…

p2p content distribution is a much maligned and much misunderstood medium. Hollywood bemoans the loss of billions of $ annually to file sharers, lawsuits fly about, the little guy gets taken down and 10 more replace him.

Rather than work against the community, content owners would do well to embrace it and understand it. The most popular rips on bittorrent are often blockbuster action flicks and comedy, the same target audience you’re trying to fill your multiplexes with. With an estimated audience of 80 million file sharers worldwide you’ve got to view this as an opportunity. What if the same day the film is released, a legitimate copy is released using bittorrent? except this pristine, non dv-cam in the cinema version features an ad or three, maybe some extras - the ads could be targeted to the region. Once you’ve done that, the bootleggers don’t offer any unique value with their cheap copies, you wipe out the blackmarket. Sure this approach won’t work for porn because no brand wants to be associated with porn and what looks better, a scared 16 year kid who has been caught downloading the latest Harry Potter getting labeled a thief? or porn barons losing money? Go figure.

Will those people who download it cut into the multiplex profits? No, they wouldn’t have gone anyway, or maybe they might be inclined to go now and see the big screen spectacle - I’m thinking here of the Bourne Ultimatum, I’ve watched it ripped and in the cinema and there’s no comparison, it warrants being seen on the big screen.

Secondly you get legitimate mavens, people going around telling others about how good Bourne Penultimatum is, word spreads, buzz spreads, the multiplexes fill out, more vulcanized cheese tacos get sold…

Is anyone doing this? No, a flat no, it’s too risky, it involves too many laywers, it’s… an excuse - most marketeers aren’t even aware the opportunity exists, and the only people offering such a service are the same people who target the file sharers on behalf of the copyright holders and as such are loathed by the community.

For 5 years, whilst Creative Manager of PFD, I was responsible to researching technologies effect upon the existent entertainment industry and investigating ways it might adapt and lead and so I realise suggesting a studio use the very channels it’s seeking to shut down as a new means of distribution is going to take some getting used to. But they better wake up to the possibilities because bittorrent isn’t going away and so called Generation Y have only ever known the internet and mobile technology and are deaf to the protestations of the copyright holders. p2p distribution represents the single biggest opportunity to film makers to find and monetise a captive audience. You can’t simply herd people into the multiplexes or down to the dvd store by shutting of all other means of access - it’s an impossible and as we are increasingly seeing, thankless task.

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