"Big Content" Is Strangling American Innovation

[Sabre]

Harvard Business Review

Innovation has emerged as a key means by which the US can pull itself out of this lackluster economy. In the State of the Union, President Obama referred to China and India as new threats to America's position as the world's leading innovator. But the threats are not just external. One of the greatest threats to the US's ability to innovate lies within: specifically, with the music and movie business. These Big Content businesses are attempting to protect themselves from change so aggressively that they risk damaging America's position as a world leader in innovation.

Many in the high technology industry have known this for a long time. Despite making their living relying on it, the Big Content players do not understand technology, and never have. Rather than see it as an opportunity to reach new audiences, technology has always been a threat to them. Example after example abounds of this attitude; whether it was the VCR which was "to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone" as famed movie industry lobbyist Jack Valenti put it at a congressional hearing, or MP3 technology, which they tried to sue out of existence. In fact, it's possible to go back as far as the gramophone and see the content industries rail against new technology. The reason why? Every shift in technology is difficult for them. Just as they work out how to make money using one technology, it changes.

The sensible thing for them to do would be to learn how to deal with the change. Instead, their approach to every generation of technology is either to attempt to stymie it so badly that nobody wants it, or to stop it altogether through their influence with lawmakers in Washington DC.

Very well written article. I wish all people on Capital Hill would read it AND understand it.

[Mr Kleen]

Vimeo link: RiP: A Remix Manifesto

[Sabre]

I know you all had talked about that movie, but I had never watched it... till now. GREAT documentary!

[avriette]

I think the "big content" folks are going to (or already are) get edged out by "big data" providers like facecrook and google. The big data folks aren't placing restrictions on intercommunication and are adopting (more or less) open standards and zero practical drm. And right now it seems that big data is more valuable than big content. (although I kinda don't like the term "big content")

Seems somebody's greasing the rails of obsolete.