Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneFancher
How many copies of the same movie have people bought because they went from tape, to dvd to blueray?
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Probably approximately the number of copies of different movies (perhaps less well-known ones that the buyer might have otherwise taken a chance on, and found a new favorite) that people have
not bought because they spent their entertainment budget on re-buying a new version of something they already owned.
The fallacy here is assuming that the controlling factor in people's entertainment purchases is the number of items/formats available, rather than the money those people have budgeted (formally or otherwise) for that purpose. If someone has X amount of money free to spend on entertainment, which happens to be exactly the price of a Blu-Ray movie, they have a couple of choices. They might buy a Blu-Ray version of Labyrinth, which they already own on DVD. Or, they might be satisfied with their existing Labyrinth DVD and instead buy a Blu-Ray version of Dark Crystal, which they don't have. What they're
not going to do is buy both Labyrinth and Dark Crystal, because they only have the money for one of them. If someone spends $100 re-buying the same content, or spends $100 buying new content, it's still $100, and their wallet doesn't suddenly contain $200 because there's a new format available.
Now, there is a scenario that could lead to shifting money from other priorities (do I really
need clothes that aren't freebie T-shirts?) to buying entertainment: The one thing that is almost guaranteed to bump my book-buying budget is finding a new (to me) author that I absolutely love. For instance, it happened when I discovered Steven Saylor's "Gordianus" books (via a short story in a big collection I bought for a couple of dollars off the Borders' discount rack, by the way). I went and bought every last one that was out at the time. If my whole budget had been tied up in re-buying content I already owned, Steven Saylor wouldn't have had any chance at a share of the Worldwalker market (small though it is), because I wouldn't have known his books existed.
Buying the same thing over and over again doesn't make people happy. It doesn't make them like the people selling them something they already own. It makes them feel used and resentful. That, added to the fact that getting something you already have just isn't as much fun as getting something new, tends to make people's interest (and their dollars) shift from that form of entertainment to the many competing varieties. My entertainment budget drifts between movies, music, books, and many other things, depending on my interest at the moment. The real challenge for any of those producers is to get me to buy books instead of movies, or movies instead of music. Making me dislike them, their industry, and their business model (and forcing me to buy the same thing multiple times is a good start on that) tends to make that interest drift to one of their many competitors.
There are exceptions. A few days ago, I bought an ebook of Dreamsnake. I have it in paperback. And SF Book Club hardcover. And I think there's a second paperback lying around somewhere in my thousands of physical books. And now ebook -- I think mostly so I can FIND the thing when I want to re-read it. But what did I pass up -- what book or author might I have found a passion for -- because my five bucks bought me Dreamsnake instead of some other book I hadn't read (and read, and read, and can quote)?
The bottom line is that re-selling people things they already own may,
at best, maintain the status quo, but it will not -- it can not -- grow the market.