The Future of Online Content
This panel is going very well so far and some good points have been brought up so far. Some that grabbed my interest were that even with the RIAA and more than likely the MPAA soon or later suing everyone left and right there is more freedom with content today than there was a century ago since back then the only way to hear music or see a play was to go to the orchestra or theater and seeing it live, whereas today we can go to a store and buy a CD or DVD and listen or watch the content whenever we want.
Another point made was the pros and cons between whether content should be walled via registration or if content should have ads on the page or if everything should be free. Now while free would be nice I think we all know that won’t be the end result. Something Jason Calacanis I really liked was give people the option to pay a subscription fee for ad-free content or if you don’t want to pay then you’d see ads along with the content.
Something else mentioned was the fact that the established media such as printed papers are sometimes slow to embrace changes in the way things are done, and the companies that drag their feet too much will be left behind and I think will possibly either have to change their business model or risk alienating the potential readers and going out of business.
Another point made that may be slightly off the topic was should manufacturers be held responsible if a consumer uses their products in an illegal way, such as when 321 Studios was forced to pull their DVD backup software of store shelves in the U.S. because their software MIGHT be used to pirate movies. My thoughts however are that the companies shouldn’t be held responsible if their product has a legitimate use. To my knowledge automobile companies aren’t held responsible if a driver crashes and kills another person. And if the person was drunk at the time of the crash the alcohol companies don;t get sued, it is the responsibility of the drunk driver to pay the costs and do the time.
The panelists were as follows: