Come back Napster, all is forgiven
A good article by Mike Masnick, “Piracy is surging again because streaming execs ignored the lessons of the past”, highlights the problems facing the streaming content distribution model due to the myriad subscription platforms competing in a crowded market. This is a topic that has been already discussed previously, illustrated by numerous poorly thought-through releases and that even Elon Musk himself has occasionally commented on.
It’s been shown time and again that the best way to deter irregular content downloads is not by prosecuting people, but instead by offering reasonably priced content. But over time, while the music industry has maintained this principle and, therefore, it is possible to opt for different platforms but maintain access to pretty much any artist, the audiovisual content industry has gotten greedy, and there are simply too many platforms out there. In short, the more platforms, the more likely it is that users will opt for ‘alternatives’.
An industry plagued by over-paid incompetents and tending towards isomorphism seems to believe that households will invest significant…
