European Parliament says "no" to disconnecting P2P users

On the 3 strikes+out concept... no way, BPI et al, says the EU: European Parliament says "no" to disconnecting P2P users.

"Parliament "want to strike a balance between the interests of rights holders and those of consumers, and that big measures like cutting off Internet access shouldn't be used," according to a spokesperson for the European Parliament. The amendment "calls on the Commission and the Member States... to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."

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• Music 2.0 & The Future of Music - my presentation for the Copyright Organization of Trinidad & Tobago (Port of Spain, October 9. 2009)

Be an expert on anything (Steven Colbert)

Wired has a really funny feature by Steven Colbert, here: how to be an expert on everything. This is a very good fit for a Futurist ;) so here are some of the headlines:

PICK A FIELD THAT CAN'T BE VERIFIED. CHOOSE A SUBJECT THAT'S ACTUALLY SECRET.  GET YOUR OWN ENTRY IN AN ENCYCLOPEDIA. In the Wikipedia age, everybody can be an expert in five minutes. Special bonus: You can edit your own entry to make yourself seem even smarter. BE SURE TO USE LOTS OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.  DON'T BE AFRAID TO MAKE THINGS UP. Never fear being exposed as a fraud. Experts make things up all the time. They’re qualified to. DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF TO CURRENT KNOWLEDGE. If you worry too much about being up-to-date, you miss out on vast territories of obsolete knowledge just waiting to be reclaimed.  Gerd:** my favorite;) GET AN HONORARY PHD.  MAKE A HABIT OF NAME-DROPPING. BE FAMOUS.

29 business models for games (and... other digital content) David Perry (Acclaim)

This column comes via the Lightspeed Venture Partners Blog, and David Perry of Acclaim Games, and it's a good read, because it describes how digital content can be monetized. There are some real gems in here that can easily be morphed into other content industries. Thanks for publishing this, David.

Some clippings:
Potential Video Game Monetization Methods by David Perry
"These models come from 25 years of watching people experiment with game monetization" says David.

"Selling boxed product at places like EBGames, Gamestop or Virgin Megastore..the gap in this market is “same day” physical delivery of games too big to download or 1st party titles (basically combining online & bricks and mortar in one solution.) The future of this space is pre-paid cards as the consoles will (in the future) go online only, distributing everything directly to the consumer, so retail (to make it worth selling the hardware) will need a cut of the software sales..."

"Digital Distribution: this also technically includes “unlocking” access to a game already on a service, like the faux install process on Facebook (however the player would have to pay to do this unlock..."

My comment: imagine being able to unlock a library of music already on your cell phone, just by doing something that an advertiser / sponsor asks for... is that the future of advertising or rather... contvertising?

"Around-Game Advertising (basically making money from banner & skyscraper adverts that circle the gameplay window).. the revenue comes from CPM (cost per thousand views), CPC (cost per click), CPA (cost per acquisition of a player), CPP (cost for a “real” player who really plays for a certain time, or to a certain level.)"

My comment: imagine 'around TV' advertising- I need to riff on this idea a bit.

"Advertgames (the whole experience is an advert), common on movie websites, can also be big like America’s Army or the Burger King games on Xbox 360.... The advertiser helps fund the game and depending on the deal, that determines who earns cash out of the revenue. Your reputation will impact this equation"

"Try Before you Buy” / Trialware / Shareware / Demoware / Timedware (this is letting you play crippled, shortened, or restricted time versions of a game for free, while trying to up-sell the full version.) This is a real balancing act as too much in the demo can kill any hope of future sale..."

ArtistshouseMusic Videos: 2500 clips on the Music Industry, Copyright, Marketing etc

Great resource: AH Video Page - ArtistshouseMusic.

Their Youtube channel is here, Video Example below

What's next for the New York Times: how about Widgets, iPhone Apps, APIs, Syndication, Twitter

Good read from the Silicon Alley Insider here: "The New York Times, like all U.S. newspapers, will eventually need to figure out how to make enough money from the Internet to make up for its declining print business. Fair enough. But we think technology-wise, at least, the Times is a lot further along than its peers..."
I am impressed with the NYT's newly found openness and Web2.0-ness, too - and this could very well become a blueprint for other media, too... stay tuned - I am covering this in my new book "The End of Control" (eta late 2008).

Content Commerce 2.0: sharing defies the laws of nature?

Just ran across this on Paid Content back from June 2006 (!)  (MPAA's) Glickman goes to another extreme, conflating sharing with giving away everything free: “It is ridiculous to believe that you can give product away for free and be more successful. I mean it defies the laws of nature.."

Talk about paradigm shift: now, 2 years later it's all about empowering sharing, and riding the tide that floats all boats. Making money around the content rather than (only) with copies of it. Meta-Content is real!

Mobile 2.0 (Rudy De Waele at Plugg)

Nice slide by Rudy De Waele, the complete slideshow is here

Copyright extension is the enemy of innovation -Times Online

This open letter is a very hard-hitting and on-the-money response to the planned extension of copyright terms: Copyright extension is the enemy of innovation -Times Online.

"The simple truth is that copyright extension benefits most those who already hold rights. It benefits incumbent holders of major back-catalogues, be they record companies, ageing rock stars or, increasingly, artists’ estates. It does nothing for innovation and creativity. The proposed Term Extension Directive undermines the credibility of the copyright system. It will further alienate a younger generation that, justifiably, fails to see a principled basis. Many of us sympathise with the financial difficulties that aspiring performers face. However, measures to benefit performers would look rather different. They would target unreasonably exploitative contracts during the existing term, and evaluate remuneration during the performer’s lifetime, not 95 years..."

Read my various comments comments on Copyright 2.0 here

Print Troubles and Advertising Shifts (eMarketer on local ads and newspapers)

Link: Can Local Web Ads Save Newspapers? - eMarketer.

"Although two-thirds of Internet users surveyed in July 2008 said they still used print newspapers about as much as they did before they started visiting news sites, more than one-quarter said they were reading print less as a result, and that figure has grown during the past 5 years\"

This stat (US, 2007) says it all I would think (note that NICHES are gaining all across the segments)

Peter Gabriel Video on the state of the music industry

Thanks to Jonathan Marks for the link.   Download my Music 2.0 slideshow if you need more food for thought ;)

Music 2.0: a web native Music Industry, by Gerd Leonhard

view presentation (tags: riaa flat rate ifpi flatrate)

AO TV | AlwaysOn: More Control over TV?

Good video: AO TV | AlwaysOn.

"Consumers have come to expect better control, filtering and discovery tools for TV programming. Micorvision, which now owns TV Guide, introduces its Interactive Program Guide, which allows various viewers using the same TV to set up separate profiles, enabling better control, content suggestions, and more targeted advertising.."

Catching the Next Wave of Innovation (Accenture Interview with Vince Cerf)

Read: Catching the Next Wave of Innovation.

The Internet's ability to enable collaboration will be the key to breakthrough innovation, says this industry pioneer, from business to education to scientific research. Interview: Vint Cerf, chief Internet evangelist, Google

"I'm expecting to see literally billions of devices going on the Internet, things that heretofore have not been part of the Internet class—like automobiles, household appliances, office equipment. You'll find heating and ventilation units, refrigerators, all these other things..."

"Harnessing computer power ..for doing what we call "computing in the cloud." You'd use computer power that's shared in a network. And when you need it, if you have it assigned properly, you'll be able to expand the amount of computer power that you need in order to do a particular computation. And then when you're not using it, somebody else can. (See "Computing in the Clouds," Outlook, May 2008)..."

The Future Role of Telecoms: Content, Service AND Data Pipes

1 picture... 1000 words

Favtape: Full Playback For Your Favorite Last.fm And Pandora Songs

Another that blows the rules out of the water: Favtape: Full Playback For Your Favorite Last.fm And Pandora Songs. Techcrunch:  "Today sees the launch of Favtape, a new mashup that mixes Pandora, Last.fm, Seeqpod, and Slinkset to offer full playback of your favorite songs on demand, without any limitations....Favtape pulls your Favorites (or “Loved”) list from Pandora and Last.fm and generates a playlist that contains full versions of each song. The interface is overly basic at this point - you can start and stop the song by clicking on its title, but there’s no way to rearrange them to create a new playlist. Below each song is a list of related links that allow users to purchase the song, view lyrics, and see a list of similar artists. Favtape will initially generate revenue through the links to iTunes, Amazon, and Ringtones displayed under each song...."

Social Video Explosion: Will Longform Survive?

I have been wondering about this issue that I like to call 'the abbreviation of everything' i.e. the effects of the web to seemingly make everything shorter and quicker: email, sms, blog posts, twitter... so this bit of news gives me some relieve: Social Video Explosion: We Don’t Need Hits; Longform Can Work | paidContent.org.

"The long and the short: Conventional wisdom says internet users want only short clips. But Jim Louderback, CEO of Diggnation production house Revision 3 said: “250,000 people watch (hour-long) Diggnation every week so people will watch longform content. Shortform isn’t going away - the context in how people view is bifurcating.” Meaning, some people will watch a long show on their computer, some on their iPod, some on their cellphone, some on a 50-inch LCD TV. But some will play portions of shows across every device, depending on their situation...."