Harry Potter and the Entertainment Industry 402
VoidEngineer writes "In a surprisingly insightful article entitled Harry Crushes the Hulk, Frank Rich discusses how "Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix" beat out "The Hulk" and goes on to offer some insightfull and interesting comments on demographics, digital media piracy, file sharing and p2p networks, the iTunes store, and more... His conclusion? "[Consumers] may well be willing to pay for their entertainment -- if the quality is guaranteed and the price is fair."
Hype factor? Three years versus... (Score:3, Informative)
And it's been damn near 3 years since Goblet too. So this basically adds up to a giant cash cow as long as Rowling doesn't screw the proverbial pooch and writes a terrible book.
Re:Without even reading the article.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How about labeling crippled protected CDs... (Score:3, Informative)
No, it doesn't. None of that stuff happens. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:"protected CDs" != CDs (Score:2, Informative)
The Amélié sound track CD carried the Philip's Digital Audio CD label. Still it was copy protected. :-(
I mentioned this to the store and they just looked confused when I started talking about Red Book format.
I got my money back after testing a second copy of the CD, the reason I gave for requesting the refund at the check out was that the CD was not a valid audio CD. :-)
"Red Book - CD Audio
- Defined by Philips and Sony in 1980 and published in a red binder, hence Red Book.
- Standard needed so a CD made by any manufacturer can be read by any CD player."
Introduction to Compact Disc [alaska.edu]
Not A Spoiler because thats not what happened (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Being on the NY Times doesn't make it true (Score:3, Informative)
Wrong.
Look back at the sales of the previous books. You will find they were just as popular before anyone ever announced that movies were going to be made of the books. And note that WB has not committed yet to movies past book 3 (someone correct me on this if I'm wrong). So there is no guarantee that books 4 and 5 will ever make it to a screenwriter.
Kids are buying the new HP novel for the same reason my wife bought and read it and for the same reason that I read it the day after she did: because they like the story and want to see how it ends.
Your previous example, that of people suddenly buying the LOTR books because of the movies, is on target, though I don't think this is a bad thing. Sometimes it takes people seeing a movie to know that there is some good literature out there (I personally don't care for LOTR, either books or movies, but that's my personal preference).
Re:Theres two ebook-versions out there! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I confess (Score:4, Informative)
10 copies * 5 books * 52 weeks = 2600 reads/year
That's just 1 small library. There are 117,418 [ala.org] libraries in the USA. If you figure, on average, they only have 3 copies of each book, that's:
3 * 5 * 52 * 117,418 = 91,586,040 reads/year
File sharing has some serious competition. Libraries are a serious force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry.
And yet, people want to own media they love. Whether it's movies, music or books, if the content touches them they want to have a copy they can call their own. I downloaded and read the fifth Harry Potter myself, before buying a copy. Not because I wanted to steal it, but because I couldn't wait to read it. I'm 47 years old, and fall way outside of the demographic the article is discussing. But I still love the books, I still go see the movies in the theater, and I still buy CDs. If they're good.
In large part, I see the problem being that media is sold as unreturnable. If I go to the movie, and it sucks, I can't get my money back. Likewise, if I buy a CD, DVD, or book.
I don't want to stand in the store for hours to preview, I want to take it home, and enjoy it in the environment that I will be using the media normally. The ability to download and verify the connection with the content prior to sale is the thing that I see the entertainment industry fighting so hard against. They know that the majority of their content can't stand up to that test.
Other industries seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Some car dealerships will even let you take an extended (overnight) "test drive". That's a $30,000 piece of merchandise! Yet for a $20 piece of media, the FBI patrols the net. Does this make sense to anyone with two (functioning) brain cells???
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:4, Informative)
The Reasons Behind the Blockbuster Mentality (Score:2, Informative)
They get 75 - 90% of the theater take during the opening weekend.
This figure drops down to 50% the next weekend and keeps going down week after week... IF the film lasts that long.
They are desperate for you to go see a film immediately so they can get the largest possible cut of your $10, get you out the door and get that new "blockbuster" in the theater two weeks later.
Think about it! Not only do they get less and less the longer a film is in the theaters... but something that builds slowly and sticks around for a long time keeps NEW product from coming out in as many locations.
As a result, quality, complexity, and artistry suffers... and the marketing of the film becomes the most important part of the process. A film has to be flashy enough to get them in but not good enough to make them stick around.
Why do YOU think theater chains are going broke even though they charge $5 for a small soda that contains 10 cents worth of product?
Re:I'm boycotting all RIAA products (Score:3, Informative)
Hmmm... I'd better be careful here...
I, the respondent to your post, which was in response to my own, earlier, post do hereby stipulate the following points enumerated by bullets which will be indicted in this text by hyphens (-). My stipulation shall be limited to and only to the following three (3) enumerated points.
- You, the respondent to my post, are almost certainly right in the latter point of your sentence (q.v., above).
- Considering that the songs that Elton John (b. Reginald Dwight) sang, either while recording albums or in public, during performances for which he was paid, onstage, on one or more occassions while playing the piano, are the result of the Reginald Dwight/Bernie Taupin collaboration, and therefore there is a high probability that the lyric in question is B. Taupin's (i.e., that they were written by the aforementioned B. Taupin.)
- I also freely stipulate that you are correct in the former point of your sentence (q.v., above). You are being pedantic.
Jokes aside, it was a very nice catch.