I’m not sure creating a streaming monopoly is much better as an alternative. I’ve been workshoping the idea that we should have a “public option” for being able to buy and watch shows and movies so that the subscription model would need to become more competitive, but the US especially is just too private enterprise focused support that right now.
It’s actually interesting topic. I think Spotify worked fine and now that they are starting to behave like every evil corporation out there we’re getting alternatives like Qobuz. Music is different because you have many publishers and platforms like Spotify are just another distribution channel. You can still buy discs or use iTunes or whatever but you also get streaming. Spotify doesn’t make music themselves but artists are getting pennies from them. They make more money from other channels.
With TV it’s different because IP is so incredibly valuable here. Everyone is trying to control their content. Netflix used to be kind of the default streaming distribution channel like Spotify but then Disney decided that since they have Star Wars they can just split and monetize it themselves (Disney probably wasn’t first but you get my point). So now all the streaming platform produce their own content and since it’s the thing that gives them value they don’t want to share it.
So the real solution here would be to follow the music industry model: separate content producers from streaming platforms. The streaming platform would compete on features (remember when Netflix had perfectly functioning ‘skip intro’ and ‘next episode’ features but Amazon didn’t?) and producers would compete on content. Mixing those two jobs is what’s killing the experience. No idea if it’s economically viable but I think that would be the model that would give us best user experience.
I’m not sure creating a streaming monopoly is much better as an alternative. I’ve been workshoping the idea that we should have a “public option” for being able to buy and watch shows and movies so that the subscription model would need to become more competitive, but the US especially is just too private enterprise focused support that right now.
It’s actually interesting topic. I think Spotify worked fine and now that they are starting to behave like every evil corporation out there we’re getting alternatives like Qobuz. Music is different because you have many publishers and platforms like Spotify are just another distribution channel. You can still buy discs or use iTunes or whatever but you also get streaming. Spotify doesn’t make music themselves but artists are getting pennies from them. They make more money from other channels.
With TV it’s different because IP is so incredibly valuable here. Everyone is trying to control their content. Netflix used to be kind of the default streaming distribution channel like Spotify but then Disney decided that since they have Star Wars they can just split and monetize it themselves (Disney probably wasn’t first but you get my point). So now all the streaming platform produce their own content and since it’s the thing that gives them value they don’t want to share it.
So the real solution here would be to follow the music industry model: separate content producers from streaming platforms. The streaming platform would compete on features (remember when Netflix had perfectly functioning ‘skip intro’ and ‘next episode’ features but Amazon didn’t?) and producers would compete on content. Mixing those two jobs is what’s killing the experience. No idea if it’s economically viable but I think that would be the model that would give us best user experience.
What about your local library/interlibrary loan media collections?
Not good for capital generation. Media needs to generate revenue like everything else in this system, otherwise it starves.