Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Reading this, it sounds like the biggest music industry problem is that they lost control of pricing:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/perm...ry-99-problems
However, I guess that's not what you mean.
Also, you don't want to allow concentration of your retail channel by one dominant retailer, whether it be Apple or Amazon.
However, I guess that's not what you mean.
One lesson is that you shouldn't cater to a youth market, since younger people have, on average and with many exceptions, fewer qualms about piracy.
However, I guess that's not what you mean.
Question: How many more years of publishers remaining profitable, while readers have lots of low-prices indie options, will it take to realize that maybe those English-major publishing executives aren't totally incompetent, or harmful to literature?
P.S. This isn't to say that I judge publishers by their profitability. I judge them by whether I like to read what they publish. |
Yep, people want to throw music, movies and books together for some reason, when really all three have very different business models and dynamics.
Ever since the advent of radio, music has been available for free to those who don't want to buy. Most musicians earn their money from either live concerts or royalties. It's just a relative handful who make a significant percentage of their money from the various stores. Pretty much every musician of note got his or her start playing live concerts.
Movies are a totally different market and a totally different business model. The digital video (VHS tapes, DVD, blu-ray and digital download) have opened a whole new range of markets for movie makers. Now, there is a whole market for movies that never hit the theaters but rather go directly to DVD/digital download.
Books are similar to music in some respects, but very different in others. Many people have long been use to getting books for free from the library or cheap via used book stores. On the other hand, until fairly recently, libraries have been the primary market for many authors and publishers. It's really only fairly recently (the last 40 years or so) that the book industry exploded. For example, the best selling book from 1929, "All Quiet on the Western Front" sold 2.5 million copies in the first year and a half. "How Green was my Valley" held the record for sales in the US for a number of years with 250,000 copies sold in the United States. "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" sold 9 million copies in the first day.
The biggest difference that ebooks have made to the publishing industry is the ability to keep books in print. The other big change is audiobooks. Before audiobooks were a very small niche market. That market has really been taking off over the last several years. Some authors report seeing a very significant portion of their income from audiobook sales.
Frankly, I suspect that the biggest lesson that the publishers are learning is the value of diversification, both in markets as well as products.