It's the home video market that enables studios to make blockbuster films with extravagant budgets. Without home video we get small films like El Mariachi instead of epics like Lawrence of Arabia or Episode I. It's going to limit the kinds of films that studios can make. Perhaps not a bad thing, because we don't get as many Ishtar and Waterworld fiascos either...
Blockbuster movies cost 10's or 100's of millions of dollars to make, but studios rarely make a profit on US boxoffice returns alone. True, they usually net a little something after international distribution. But the real profit in the business is home video rentals and sales.
So if Joe Sixpack can download a movie, and it's reasonably fast, and doesn't cost a lot to store on his drive (or burn to a CD-R/DVD-R), then he WILL download that song or movie. Right?
And if a major movie studio invests $100 million in a summer blockbuster, but when the DVD comes out it's promptly pirated and P2P'ed all over the internet for free, then video rentals go down the toilet. And ultimately (here's the conceptual leap) the studio stops making movies because there's no way to be a profitable studio if you take home video out of the equation. Period.
So P2P sharing via Napster/Gnutella is the virus that kills its host.
Or am I wrong? Please tell me I am, since otherwise I am going to be out of a job.
I think everyone is missing the point. SGI also has long offered something called the ImageVision library, described as follows:
"ImageVision Library (IL) is a toolkit for creating, processing and displaying images on all SGI visual workstations. The library provides image processing application developers with a complete, robust framework for manipulating and managing images."
I'll bet it's this connection that is the source of concern at SGI.
but why stop there? Relativistic physics beckons: 4) As the speed of the craft approaches the speed of light it contracts along the direction of motion and time slows down.
Record companies don't offer me the business model I want. Namely, downloadable cd's that cost under 5 dollars. This can be done. Actually, it can be done when the record companies, i.e. the middlemen, are out of the picture. While marketing is needed for sales today, I'd like to see an environment where the average citizen is a lot more proactive about what they listen to.
I think that's only half true. Remove the record company middleman, but insert an internet middleman like MP3.com instead. (Okay, perhaps you won't bother with these services, but I believe a majority of consumers want a service that categorizes the music, profiles their tastes and interests, and "personalizes" the shopping experience.) MP3.com will make some money on those customer profiles and targeted online advertising, but more importantly they will profit by becoming the de facto channel for new artists to distribute digital music.
And then, like Amazon did with their "1-click shopping" and "affiliates" patent filings, MP3.com will have to defend their digital turf with whatever legal tools they have. Remember how cool Amazon used to be? Now they're the establishment. Funny how that works, huh?
I find it interesting that Loki has managed to establish a good reputation amoung the Linux community while still charging for its products. In other areas of entertainment, notably MP3 and DVD, the Linux community seems eager to criticize any corporation that seeks profits for the goods they produce. It seems to me like a double standard. Do you agree? If so then why do you think the discrepancy exists?
Magazines like Cinefex, Computer Graphics World, Film & Video, or Millimeter are good sources of general information. Trade magazines such as Variety and Hollywood Reporter might help too.
Better yet, there's the ACM SIGGRAPH organization, with local professional chapters, and annual convention held each August. Check out www.siggraph.org, and contact someone in the NY chapter for more information about work in the area.
Or come to Los Angeles! Plenty of visual effects companies out here...
Antitrust law precludes Geek Union
on
GEEK Unions?
·
· Score: 1
It may be illegal. It seems antitrust laws allow collective bargaining of employees with their employer, but preclude a union of "independent economic actors" from unionizing to increase their leverage in the marketplace. At least, in the case of physicians' unions this is the DOJ's stated concern. Follow the link and see the sections labelled Physician Collaboration or Professional Trade Associations.
Slashdot Mirror
It's the home video market that enables studios to make blockbuster films with extravagant budgets. Without home video we get small films like El Mariachi instead of epics like Lawrence of Arabia or Episode I. It's going to limit the kinds of films that studios can make. Perhaps not a bad thing, because we don't get as many Ishtar and Waterworld fiascos either...
Blockbuster movies cost 10's or 100's of millions of dollars to make, but studios rarely make a profit on US boxoffice returns alone. True, they usually net a little something after international distribution. But the real profit in the business is home video rentals and sales.
So if Joe Sixpack can download a movie, and it's reasonably fast, and doesn't cost a lot to store on his drive (or burn to a CD-R/DVD-R), then he WILL download that song or movie. Right?
And if a major movie studio invests $100 million in a summer blockbuster, but when the DVD comes out it's promptly pirated and P2P'ed all over the internet for free, then video rentals go down the toilet. And ultimately (here's the conceptual leap) the studio stops making movies because there's no way to be a profitable studio if you take home video out of the equation. Period.
So P2P sharing via Napster/Gnutella is the virus that kills its host.
Or am I wrong? Please tell me I am, since otherwise I am going to be out of a job.
"ImageVision Library (IL) is a toolkit for creating, processing and displaying images on all SGI visual workstations. The library provides image processing application developers with a complete, robust framework for manipulating and managing images."
I'll bet it's this connection that is the source of concern at SGI.
It's faster if you press and hold the stop button, and release when the color changes....
but why stop there? Relativistic physics beckons: 4) As the speed of the craft approaches the speed of light it contracts along the direction of motion and time slows down.
I think that's only half true. Remove the record company middleman, but insert an internet middleman like MP3.com instead. (Okay, perhaps you won't bother with these services, but I believe a majority of consumers want a service that categorizes the music, profiles their tastes and interests, and "personalizes" the shopping experience.) MP3.com will make some money on those customer profiles and targeted online advertising, but more importantly they will profit by becoming the de facto channel for new artists to distribute digital music.
And then, like Amazon did with their "1-click shopping" and "affiliates" patent filings, MP3.com will have to defend their digital turf with whatever legal tools they have. Remember how cool Amazon used to be? Now they're the establishment. Funny how that works, huh?
I find it interesting that Loki has managed to establish a good reputation amoung the Linux community while still charging for its products. In other areas of entertainment, notably MP3 and DVD, the Linux community seems eager to criticize any corporation that seeks profits for the goods they produce. It seems to me like a double standard. Do you agree? If so then why do you think the discrepancy exists?
Better yet, there's the ACM SIGGRAPH organization, with local professional chapters, and annual convention held each August. Check out www.siggraph.org, and contact someone in the NY chapter for more information about work in the area.
Or come to Los Angeles! Plenty of visual effects companies out here...
It may be illegal. It seems antitrust laws allow collective bargaining of employees with their employer, but preclude a union of "independent economic actors" from unionizing to increase their leverage in the marketplace. At least, in the case of physicians' unions this is the DOJ's stated concern. Follow the link and see the sections labelled Physician Collaboration or Professional Trade Associations.