Posts by Rob Stowell
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I cannot think of a more outrageous use of public money as far as recent broadcast shows go
Totally agree.
(Actually I would love to see an FoC-hosted psychic takedown. I bet it would be hilarious.)
Moon TV had a pretty good go. Funded by NZ on Air, too...
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Dunno about Matthew, but I've made a few commercials. Most often with non-actors. It can work, and what he sez seems plausible to me.
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Yeah, I think it's a great discussion. And far from black and white.
I totally get your central point: the economic model supporting/profiting from (it does both) the recording of music is in danger of being completely undermined by "free music on the net". (Not, I tend to think, by people copying CDs and giving them to mates- but certainly also by the widespread availability of pirated material in some parts of the world.)
This does matter. It WILL make a different to what gets recorded and how it gets recorded- and why. Musicians may well stop recording music to make a living- because that may become impossible.
I don't think anyone is disputing that.... just arguing about the role drm- already, it seems, dropping out of the equation- has to play in whatever the road forward is. -
Funding "Sensing Murder" with Charter money is shocking, totally, on so many fronts. That alone makes it worth dropping the Charter down a deep pit.
Problem is, NZ on Air's funding model for television is also very flawed. It essentially gives the broadcaster's the power- you cannot get money from NZ on Air without a broadcaster.
I'd like to see the whole model tipped upside down and given a good shake. With the Freeview platform launched and distribution becoming less and less constrained, the time is right.
Setting up as a "broadcaster" isn't a big deal any more: NZ on Air could, for example, have their own channel on freeview. (Or why not youtube?) It could run ads, or not. They could run everything they fund there, in some sort of rotation, very cheaply, and make that a condition of funding it for the other broadcasters. They are wary of "ghettoising" the content, but it could be an add-on, rather than the only place to watch it- but a place where minority programming wasn't always pushed into the dead-zones.
Giving the charter money to NZ on Air is fine, in a same-old, same-old way. How about some fresh thinking. NZ on Air was designed for a very different television world. -
No question drm has the effect of making some legitimate customers *pissy* (you know that feeling when a vending machine takes your money and doesn't give you the bag of chips? It's quite irrational and dispropotionate to what you've lost, for sure. Don't discount it- rage is rage!)
Has DRM had the effect of stopping, slowing down, or even reducing by an iota the level of piracy?
I think not. Quite the opposite: it's likely, doncha think, that some of those pissed off people have DLed files they might otherwise have bought, had it not been for a bad DRM experience? 33 pages of people telling you that is my evidence, yer honour!
WRT people trying to figure out how to use bit-torrent: just ask yer kids. I have had to remove limewire from the family computer twice. They have had no problem working it.
Me, I find iTunes fills me with irrational rage. Always trying to play every CD, copy stuff, sync up this or that, wanting to link to i-store USA or trying to update to the latest version. They seem to manage that ok too. ;-) -
Of course the improvement in technology was a major reason for CDs. And of course it was pushed by tech companies, the Sonys and Philips, who were dead keen to sell us another hi-fi system- yeah, better in some ways, but very pricey in 1982.
The majors were not keen, in part because it involved a digital copy of the original which could be copied, bit for bit, by the nefarious. The fact that they could re-sell their back issue was a big factor in getting them to look past this.
To get the better quality- which I could never hear- you had to buy not only the new player, but the a whole new collection of music.
IIRC the costs of producing and distributing CDs in bulk rapidly came down to less than producing vinyl. But in NZ at any rate, CDs were sold for $4-10 MORE than vinyl. One justification for this was- I remember this quite clearly- that a CD could be copied.
This "logic" really did erode the relationship between producers and consumers. Hitting the legitimate purchaser for the cost of losses that illegitimate use might impose never sits well. (I know we all pay for the costs of shop-lifting. But who likes subsidiing crime?)
Rob, you don't seem to get the technical reasons drm is not feasible. I'll leave that.
But the other reason the majors in particular are hurting is a lack of leadership wrt costs and pricing. And the price-gouging started with the CD.
It hasn't stopped.
We all know that after initial production costs, an mp3 can be delivered ridiculously cheaply. The "emusic" model works for me- but it'd work a lot better if ANY of the majors climbed on board. (Some of the Warners FN catalogue seems to be up- but not for NZ. WTF!)
Instead of going all Canute, one of the majors has to get real and start selling reasonable quality digital downloads at a price that makes people want to "go legit".
There will be a price point where "very cheap" (20c a song? That's almost nothing, the cost of a text- I don't think anyone would hesitate to pay it- yet emusic can get close to that) AND legitimate AND good quality can compete with free. It could be boosted with "loyalty schemes" - free extra tracks, HD video down-loads, on-line chat with the band, whatever extras can be dreamed up for registered buyers.
That's getting closer. If there'd been some revolutionary leadership from the top- in recognition of the "revolutionary" technology- instead of endless heel-dragging, hand-wring and fear-mongering petty prosecutions- I'd bet the music-biz landscape would look a lot different- and more optimistic.
Maybe that's naive- but at least it's naive looking forwards, not back endlessly to the lost golden past! -
Tee hee! Sounds terrific. Not a wholesome "We Didin't Mean to Kill the Sitter" sort of tale, a la Ransome, I take it.
Kids like being scared, but not too scared: the line is quite different from one to t'other. There should be an interantional rating system for this: as in "Baby-Sitting- it's not a description!" by D Hayward: three screams and a tingley spine.
We had a character called Dr Scallywag- a back-fired attempt to make the real doctor seem fun. His modus operandi was to trap one or both twins in his Doctor's bag, for later consumption, and his theme song went:
"I'm Dr Scallywag
I have a big Black Bag
And when I've caught ya
Then comes torture
Dr Scallywag
And his Nurse Ratbag."
Of course the twins always outwitted him, tricked him into his own bag or flushed him down the toilet. At least I think they did, haven't seen J for a few days.... -
While the mournful howl of a banjo in the teeth of a raging blizzard is undoubtedly character-forming for wee Bob, you might have to come back!
The staff club currently has two Emersons, and two Three Boys beers on tap. Three Boys' Oyster Stout is surprisingly alcoholic for something that tastes like dinner.
Hope the fire is raging, and the draughts, if not quite up to Three Boys quality, are not too draughty.
PS- Loved the "Moon" story, too. One of our twins (aged 7) told me a couple of nights ago she was hiding in bed because the big moon scared her: following her about, and peering in ALL the windows. Reminded me of Arnold Lobel's charming "Owl at Home"
Best- ;) -
Since many contraception methods rely on the rejection of fertilised ovum, I'm thinking we need huge new correctional facilities for all the baby-murderers.
And as it's now possible to clone a single cell into a mouse, it's also a fact that the cells which come off my hands after a vigorous wash are babies.
We are all guilty, and we're going to have to build a facility big enough to hold everyone. I suggest we call it "the world" and perhaps those too pure for it can find a better place.;-) -
In fact, we facilitated his viewpoint by helping ensure his columns were in publishable form without errors.
I'm loving this quote! Facilitated them right out of the building. Without any of the errors those climate experts pointed out!