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."
that strategy won't work (Score:5, Funny)
[Consumers] may well be willing to pay for their entertainment -- if the quality is guaranteed and the price is fair.
Sheesh, what dunce claimed that? Clearly consumers are more willing to pay if you threaten and sue them. Duh.
Re:that strategy will work (Score:3, Interesting)
Frankly, I'd prefere to read the book than the ebook and I am even willing to by the hardcover as opposed to waiting for the softcover to come out in several months time.
As for iTunes, I've spent about $15 so far. 15 songs I would not own otherwise from 15 albums I would never buy.
Re:that strategy will work (Score:5, Interesting)
This was true until I found myself paying full price $29.99 for the latest Harry Potter.
The last book (#4) was the best in the series so far, and I hope this just comes close. I haven't been able to read it yet though- there are two women in the house, so that makes me last in line....
I do buy music- and I hate it. I would love to see something like iTunes on the Windows platform. The only thing that scares me about it though, is that people will only buy the 'hits'. Everyone I know has the same experience with music- you buy the album 'just for this one song', but USUALLY the depth of the album surprises you, and the song you initially liked ends up being the one you hate the most.
So if we only buy the ones we like, a lot of music will never get noticed...
Kid Rock's album (don't remember the name, but the one with 'Cowboy' on it) was actually a fairly solid album. Songs like 'Got One For Ya' and 'Black Chick White Guy' weren't played on the radio, that I heard, but they ended up being some of my favorites. Also, Uncle Kracker (hey, if you didn't like Kid Rock, you probably didn't buy this either) had a hit with 'Follow Me', but in my mind the rest of the album was much better.
There are a lot of cases though were I know I don't want the whole album- usually older songs from one-hit-wonders that I want to put on some party CD or something like that. I mean, do I really want to purchase the entire Rose Royce collection, just to get 'Car Wash'? Although Rose Royce does have at least 5 different 'best of' albums, but I really don't want to pay for the rest of their music. (Interesting note, I saw Rose Royce at the Asparagus Festival in Stockton, CA. They played at 12:00 Noon...it was pretty sad..maybe I should buy their albums just so they don't have to do that again)
Another example is the band Orgy. These guys are horrible- but they did a real good cover of New Order's 'Blue Monday'. I bought the CD...it was one of those rare occurances when I threw the CD away....even with one good song, it wasn't worth the piece of plastic it came on.
So- when do I know the album has depth, and when do I know that I really do only want one song? I guess I will need to rely more on reviewers, and try to make better decisions. So I don't waste money.
My problem with books is actually more complicated. If I don't like a book, I have usually spent quite a few hours to find out. I hate that waste of time- and of course reviews are only for hard-cover, so I never really catch on to those. I end up buying a lot of books I don't really like.
Some good books though:
Hole in the Head
Slab Rat
Carter Beats the Devil
The Straw Men
Blah blah blah
Hit's only not that much to worry about (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know if you saw the leaked results from the independent musicians meeting with Apple, but around 50% of the purchases were whole albums. That's another great indication that the movement to single song sales will not necessarily mean the elimination of the album as art form.
RE: concerns of people only buying "hits" (Score:4, Interesting)
They usually sell complete albums of songs for much less than it would cost you to buy each song individually for 99 cents.
When you find even 2 songs you like on a given album, you often think "Hmm.... spend about $2.00 for just 2 songs - or get all 12-13 tracks for between $6 and $10?" If you end up only listening to half of the stuff, it was still a fair deal that way.
Without even reading the article.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't have an Australian Drivers licence, and my local video store requires *australian* photo ID. So, that counts me out as a video consumer. The last time I bought a CD was for *one* song I liked. I'd use ITunes if it were available out here.
Sadly, I doubt that the companies will wake up and smell the coffee...
Re:Without even reading the article.... (Score:2, Offtopic)
I have no idea what the government options are in Australia, but here in the U.S., if you don't have a drivers license, you can get a government ID card. (California information [ca.gov])
One of the main reasons for getting an ID card is exactly the reason that you stated above -- so you can do business with stores/companies that require a valid government ID. (In the U.S., you can also use a military ID instead o
Re:Without even reading the article.... (Score:3, Informative)
I'm boycotting all RIAA products (Score:3, Insightful)
(the fact that their stuff is overpriced crap makes this easier)
Re:I'm boycotting all RIAA products (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I'm boycotting all RIAA products (Score:3, Interesting)
That said, there's plenty, plenty, of good non-RIAA stuff out there. The indie/underground/non-corporate/etc scene has always flourished and always will.
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 o
Hmm sounds familiar (Score:5, Interesting)
That sounds familiar.. where have I heard that.. oh yeah, now I remember, that's how all the other industries work.
You know what I realized (Score:5, Interesting)
And yeah, I paid $30 for Morrowind, but it'll be months, if not years, untill I'm finished with it.
On the other hand, music goers into the lastest American stuff are still getting gorged. Then again I got John Arch's A Twist in Fate for $10 bucks, and lots of the stuff I liked when I was a kid (Judus Priest, King Diamond, Early Fates Warning, The Ramones, the list goes on) is getting released on the cheap.
It's funny, but we fan boys aren't getting screwed nearly as bad as we used to. Anyone who paid $35 for 2 dubbed eps of Ranma 1/2 knows what I'm talking about. If the trend carries on like this, I'm gonna have to shut my mouth and start buying more stuff
Re:You know what I realized (Score:2)
Re:You know what I realized (Score:2, Interesting)
It's $1,000 to own the whole series. If you just want to watch them once, go to the video shop. Or wait until they're repeated.
Re:You know what I realized (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You know what I realized (Score:3, Insightful)
I figure the reason is
Meh... (Score:2, Interesting)
Good news: The **AA's of the world now realize their respective business models are obsolete.
Bad news: Their new business model consists of the following:
1. Scan Customers' ports.
2. Lawsuit
3. Profit!
In all seriousness, I really do think that these guys are deluded enough to believe that this could work - we can't make up our lost revenue because our product is not as culturally relevant as, say, video games; so let's
Re:Meh... (Score:2)
Bottom line (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Bottom line (Score:3, Insightful)
When you buy a CD or DVD, you experience the data it contains in exactly the same way as you would with the pirated version; the same speakers, the same screen.
A book is quite different - while the data may be identical, most people would far prefer the experience of reading from a bound dead-tree version than from
Re:Bottom line (Score:2)
I have a scanner with text recognition software. It works wonders with printed text. I could do it in about a day. If I really wanted to.
Re:Bottom line (Score:5, Insightful)
I tried reading a e-book copy of a book once. Stephenson's 'The Diamond Age' wasn't available at any local bookstores so I downloaded it. It was horrible. Plain-text is really bad for large amounts of text. So I layouted parts of it myself and that was a bit better but I still had to read it on a computer screen. Sure--you can print it out, but a stack of loose pages is a lot less comfortable to handle than a bound book. That is the big difference between books and other forms of entertainment. With books the package is important and not easily recreate-able at home. Films, games and music can be burned on any old blank. With 'The Diamond Age' I read the first couple of pages and then ordered it.
From the article:
By the next year, The Times would have to bend to Harry's will and initiate its first separate weekly children's best-seller list, lest adult fiction get crowded out by the Rowling juggernaut.
That is kind of unfair, isn't it? After all people of all ages read the books.
Re:Bottom line (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bottom line (Score:3, Insightful)
They did it because other books were being held back. Rowling's astounding success was preventing other books from being released, because the publishers were holding them back until they had a chance to
I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:2, Troll)
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:2)
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:5, Interesting)
The phoenix predates Christianity anyway only a Christian would see an analogy. One interesting thing about the entire series is that virtually no character is assigned any kind of religious faith.
it's named Fawkes after Guy Fawkes etc.).
British kids would get this quite easily.
A better example of some of the more obscure references would be that Hagrid bought Fluffy from a Greek man...
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:2)
Also, try reading it looking for transformed existing mythologies
That said, If your time is currently so precious (or reading slow) that you cannot read ~1000 pages "just" for trying a new hobby, don't read it, wait for a better time
Yeah, you'll be a real barrel of laughs (Score:2)
People read fiction for the same reason they watch movies.
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:2)
Seriously, times change, people change. What was hot with kids in 1903/1953/1978 isn't necessairly what's hot in 2003. Jesus I'm getting old...
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:2, Insightful)
I'll give you the reason:
Hype.
People are sheep. Please try not to be a sad sheep, don't defend this tripe you call literature.
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:3, Interesting)
I must disagree with this false statement, it has been my experience that the children who are being enraptured by Harry's world are truly starting to hunger for literature, and as there is a limited supply of Potter to read, they expand their collection. I know 7 year olds who, having read all of the potters, have gone on while waiting for book 5 to read J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis and other great classic literature. I doubt i
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:5, Interesting)
Within 72 hours of The Order of the Phoenix being published my partner and I had both read it cover to cover; I'm currently reading it for the second time. She's 39 and I'm 47; we have no children. We've both read all of the Harry Potter books, the first long before it was filmed. There are somewhere between five and ten thousand novels in this house - we both read a lot.
J K Rowling's work is not 'bullshit'. It's not, in my opinion, great literature either, but it is superb and highly imaginative story telling, tightly plotted and compellingly told and stands repeated reading.
There are two particular things I can point to which indicate that the Harry Potter phenomenon is something genuine in terms of literature. The first is, of course, that the first Harry Potter book came out from a small independent publisher with no fanfare at all. The whole snowball effect was entirely by word of mouth, at least until The Philosopher's Stone was filmed. Up to that point there were no external factors - no marketing, no colateral - so that only the intrinsic quality of the work could have made it one of the biggest best sellers of all time.
The other thing is that, in the UK, the publishers brought out an 'adult binding' of the Harry Potter books because they found that adult readers were embarrassed to be seen reading a "children's book" on public transport. This had never been done before for any other "children's book"
Both the original binding and the 'adult binding' of several Harry Potter books have separately been on the best sellers lists in Britain for years, and an individual Harry Potter book has been the best selling book in Britain for three of the last four years (in 2001, Harry Potter books took the top four places [guardian.co.uk] on the best sellers list). At this moment, Harry Potter books are first, second, eighth, ninth, seventeenth, and twenty-second on The Guardian's [guardian.co.uk] best sellers list. That's right, six places for five books. The second place, after the "children's binding" of Order of the Phoenix is the "adult binding" [booktrack.co.uk] of the same title. Given that many adults will have the "children's binding" (we have) this indicates that roughly as many adults as children are reading the book.
Furthermore, apart from The Order of the Phoenix, all the Harry Potter books have Booktrack Platinum Awards [booktrack.co.uk] for selling over a million copies within five years in Britain. Only six other books have ever won this award.
Harry Potter isn't a 'flash in the pan' success. It's a solid, consistent success over a period of years. It's a series of children's books, but it has sold well to adults. Its success long predates its marketing and is still out of all proportion to the amount of marketing effort it receives.
Of course, popularity is, as you say, no indicator of aesthetic merit. However, this degree of popularity sustained over this long indicates something, and it doesn't indicate hype because the popularity (at least in Britain) predates the hype, not the other way around. Yes, it's easy to appear superficially cool by rubbishing Rowling's work. But unless you have some alternative explanation for this degree of popularity, your shallowness and lack of
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:3, Insightful)
Popularity doesn't equal quality. It never has done and it never will. Harry Potter is easy reading, a kind of a literary equivalent to Celine Dion.
I find that people who dismiss popular books simply because they are popular often turn out to be the kind of folks who are going to write the Great American Novel someday, but so far haven't "made time" to do it. They're the sort of
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, the characters tend to be far more realistic than you would expect in children's literature. Not all the good guys are nice, and not all the bad guys are mean.
Summary: It's just a good story. Read more.
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't care for Harry Potter, that's fine, not everyone does. But by this statement you're implying that you don't read fiction because you're an adult, and I fail to see what one has to do with the other.
My father is in his seventies now and still devours about three novels a week. He is a rather intelligent and well-educated man. He cared for my ailing and home-bound mother for ten years all by himself until she passed away a few months ago. All through that time he read tons of fiction. It helped him remain sane while he saw my mother deteriorate despite his best efforts. A social worker that visited him once said she was astonished at the quality of care he was giving my mother.
Here is a man that is very much an adult. He shoulders his adult responsibilities seriously and with skill. Yet he continued to read fiction during that time. We need fiction as an escape, if nothing else, a way of immersing ourselves in another world as a way of recovering from the harsh realities of real life.
Re:I have been arguing this with the wife all day (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because you are no longer a kid, and your tastes have changed. The Harry Potter books, which I have not read I will admit, are aimed at children, not at your level. From all I've heard, they are written well, but so is, say, the Judy Blume books that kids loved. Doesn't mean adults will find them of interest.
" My wife says its aimed at a lower grade audience, so why does she read it?
This is similar to something I have wondered about for several years: why do adults like the HP books? Cleary they weren't meant for them, and adults were clueless about the books until their kids discovered them and made a fuss. My theory is three-fold:
- The hype factor: When anything gets hyped a lot, people join in just to see what the fuss is about.
- The quality factor: The HP books are apparently well-written, not just hyped junk. The hype machine came after Rowling wrote the first few books. They are good books, simple as that. Again, I cannot speak from personal experience, but I have friends who have read the books and tell me what they think.
- The literacy factor: Adults are not reading as often as they used to, and the literacy level of adult fiction has lowered over the decades to keep up with the times. Compare a newspaper from a hundred years ago to one today. Compare a popular novel to one today. People like easier material. They get lazy. So when they pick up a HP book they find it's easy to read, contains a good story, and they feel as if they are accomplishing something.
"I have read a few chapters of the HP and find it near tripe. I am not a fan of fiction anymore, I am an adult, and find the story to be a waste of time."Well, I find your concept of adulthood to be odd. Fiction is universally known as a window into the human condition. The best fiction tells us more about the world than the most thoroughly researched non-fiction. It says more in a glance than reams of charts and facts. So to hear you dismiss all fiction tells us why you don't like the HP books, but it also tells us something about you.
Namely that you are probably just trolling. :)
Parent contains evil spoiler for 'Phoenix'! (Score:2)
No, it doesn't. None of that stuff happens. (Score:2, Informative)
How about labeling crippled protected CDs... (Score:5, Interesting)
It was the Amélié Soundtrack CD I bought in Australia. Sadly the CD did not even mount in the Linux or Mac boxes I tried it on.
Both the original and replace CDs I tried worked on standard players but could not be mounted on a CD drive. Typical nasty BMG copy protection.
I got my money back but even the store techie was surprised they had not mentioned the protection scheme on the packaging. He mentioned it was required in Oz. Is this true?
Annoying because I want to show my support for a funky French film and was willing to put my money where my mouth was.
If iTunes was available in Australia or the UK, then I would be buying that album online just to avoid the CD protection.
From a consumer who actually pays for music...
Re:How about labeling crippled protected CDs... (Score:2)
No but it probably sounded good at the time.
"protected CDs" != CDs (Score:2)
Customers should take care not to buy CDs without the official CD label, and make use of their right to return defective disks that illegally carry this label.
I have returned the last disc I bought, (and got a cash refund I may add) since it was one of those annoying 'protected CDs', was NOT labelled as such, and refused to play on my Pioneer system. I'll have to get the tracks through Kazaa now, and burn them
Re:"protected CDs" != CDs (Score:2)
Sometimes that label only is on the actual disc itself, which you can't really look at in some stores (because of anti-theft packaging or because you are not allowed to open the shrink-wrapping. Nearly all new releases are copy-protected, though--even bands you would expect to be opposed to such schemes. The labels don't even inform the artists whe
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.
Re:How about labeling crippled protected CDs... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How about labeling crippled protected CDs... (Score:3, Insightful)
First thing is I take it back to the store as it quite clearly doesn't fit the purpose it was intended for.
Secondly, I download the album tracks using Limewire.
Third thing is I go to the band's online shop (if they have one) and purchase $20 of merchandise.
IMO, this is win-win - I get the music I originally wanted to purchase, I have some merchandise, and it's showing my support for the band.
Granted, it's probably less tha
Pay... (Score:4, Interesting)
Pay for just "good quality" and "fair price"? I wouldn't. I want good quality and fair price, yes, but fair use is just as important (if not more). If I pay anything for it, I want to be able to use it to it's fullest, whether that means ripping it to listen to on my MP3 player, burning a copy for my car, or putting it in the microwave. Then I'll buy it if I decide I want/"need" it.
Re:Pay... (Score:2)
One disappointing comment in the article... (Score:3, Insightful)
"The question is: How do all those lovely entertainment-seeking kids weaned on 'Harry Potter' grow up to become thieves? Surely, they know that stealing copyrighted songs and movies is akin to shoplifting sweaters at the Gap."
How can an author who is obviously intelligent enough to write an otherwise-interesting article sneak that in? Making a copy of music is NOT the same as stealing the original. Now, if I went to the Gap, bought one sweater, and then used my home cloning machine to make 50 more and ship them off to people on the Internet for free... that would be a fair comparison. However, "pirating" music (ugh, I despise that term) is not equivalent to stealing a physical good. If I steal one Gap sweater, that's one less sweater that the Gap has to sell... but if I make a perfect bit-by-bit copy of a CD and hand it to a friend, the original is still completely intact and able to be sold, used, or traded.
It's disappointing that the author fell into the RIAA's trap on that point. However, the rest of the article is quite good. Good weekend reading...
Re:One disappointing comment in the article... (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it reasonable to claim that stealing music (by copying it) is similar to stealing goods? I would say it depends on which dimension of the act you are focusing on and why. As you point out above, the physical aspect of the act is very different, and the outcome for the victims is relatively different, but from the perspective of whether it is wrong to do it, that doesn't really make any difference does it?
Btw. a book might make for good weekend reading; an article is something you read while on the toilet.
Re:One disappointing comment in the article... (Score:2)
See, even more reasons to ban m$ products.
That said, I have these discussions with friends and family all the time. I think while most people feel it's wrong to copy a cd/movie/etc, they do it anyway. The middle class can't always afford that $120 upgrade or $20 crap cd. Plus, movies are a frickin rip. They get to raise prices due to
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.
Is it as good as they say? (Score:4, Interesting)
This whole article asumes that Harry Potter is high art, and that it is a product that can earn 100 million while not being part of the hype machine.
I've never read any of the Harry Potter series. I think I'd probably enjoy them, though. But I'm _very_ aware of them. The Harry Potter phenom is well covered in the media, and I doubt they would be so popular without the involment of the media.
Re:Is it as good as they say? (Score:5, Insightful)
The media coverage of Harry Potter started *because* of its popularity, it didn't cause it. I will grant that the popularity of the fifth book has probably been helped along by the media coverage, but remember, the popularity of the series was already quite entrenched when the fourth book was being anticipated. The fact that little kids were lining up to be the first to read a 700 plus page book on their own was what made the story newsworthy.
Re:Is it as good as they say? (Score:2)
I was like..and still am...wtf? Has the world gone nuts?
On the other hand, I've read the books, and I'm not as surprised. They are very well done. His Dark Materials is a tad better, I think, but to each his own.
Re:Is it as good as they say? (Score:3, Interesting)
The media coverage of Harry Potter started *because* of its popularity, it didn't cause it. I will grant that the popularity of the fifth book has probably been helped along by the media coverage, but remember, the popularity of the series was already quite entrenched when the fourth book was being anticipated.
Bear in mind, however, that Scholastic (publisher of "Harry Potter") over $3 million [cnn.com] to market the fifth book. The hype may have started with fans, but like anything else, it's been well-capital
Re:Is it as good as they say? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it as good as they say?
I'd like to see the marketing campaign that can get 10 year olds to sit and read -- nearly continuously -- an almost 900 page book that was actually crap. :)
Downloading music akin to shoplifting? (Score:2, Flamebait)
Very nice article, but Mr. Rich has stated something down near the bottom that is not quite true.
How long is it going to take people to realize that there is a very big difference? I steal a sweater off the Gap, the store doesn't have it, I do. I download a song from the day's equi
Kids these days (Score:3, Funny)
Isn't that the problem with adults in the digital age as well?
Quality is guaranteed? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's the whole problem. The media companies want to invest their money in the sure sell, so we keep getting sequels and boy bands.
For media-based entertainment products, "quality" involves a bit of variety, a bit of risk.
Time Line of the Book being scanned (Score:5, Interesting)
On Friday Night/Saturday Morning: First Chapter scanned and proofed. The whole book has reportedly been scanned, and is being proofed. Scans are available of both versions of the cover.
Saturday Afternoon (I wake up) Told the proofed version will be ready by 8 pm. Rough versions of all the chapters are available. people looking for the book are being send to a seperate channel. A website has been established where one individual has taken the rough chapters and has been proofing them himself, and posting them online.
Sunday Afternoon book has been proofed and is combined into a html file with the cover images. This is turned into a
This comment doesn't really have a point. I will say I purchased a copy of the book, and I was personally involved with the scanning. I just want people to be aware of the existence of scanned books, in the hope that it will enhance this discussion.
Gryftir
Re:Time Line of the Book being scanned (Score:4, Interesting)
Doesn't seem to read much, does he? (Score:3, Funny)
TWW
I confess (Score:5, Interesting)
Though I'm sure the author would love to sue me for saying so, you don't lose too much in reading the electronic format. Unlike music or a movie, however, a book is something we don't always finish. A bad book we put down. When we finish a book, we know that it was at least readable.
I guess what I'm saying is that I've never finished an ebook without suffereing the immediate compulsion to grab myself a copy of the real deal. Movies, music, anime, tv... these things are more impulse buys. I would never buy them in the first place normally, but after being exposed to them in a way I wouldn't have been in the first place, I at least have a reason to purchase them.
A book is something I cannot avoid purchasing if I enjoy it. Don't ask my why, I don't know. But I suspect that I am not alone in this; I also suspect that as much as a mediocre amount of piracy can help music sales, it can probably be a great boon for the sales of a less popular book.
I'm not saying "Go forth and pirate books!"; I'm just saying that maybe having people get exposed to your book, no matter how it happens, results in drastically increased sales?
Thoughts?
Re:I confess (Score:4, Interesting)
I actually hunted down a copy the new HP book online the day it came out; after failing to find it in bookstores... Though I'm sure the author would love to sue me... I'm not saying Go forth and pirate books! I'm just saying that maybe having people get exposed to your book, no matter how it happens, results in drastically increased sales?
I noticed an interesting image [nytimes.com] in the article. It shows two kid sisters in a public library at 1:00am; one of them is dressed up as Harry Potter and it sitting by a bookshelf rack reading the new book. These kids did not pay a dime to read the book. I am quite sure that dozens upon dozens of people will be checking that copy out to read it, again with no money going to the author or to the publisher (except, of course, the money from the library's original purchase).
I cannot help but wonder what Ms. Rowling or other authors and publishers think of this kind of thing. Obviously, they cannot speak out against public libraries, without inciting the wrath from the public at large. Libraries are something that we grew up with. They are institutions of learning that our founding fathers, like Thomas Jefferson, felt were essential for any progressive society.
Yet the same people who would become incensed about the public library being challenged would not think twice about condemning the sharing of a digital copy over the Internet. I am sorry, but I simply fail to see the fundamental difference between the two. Both mediums allow me to read the book without paying for it.
Perhaps this newfangled Internet thing and its implications are too radical a paradigm shift for the public at large, and they cannot deduce the obvious analogies to how things have been being done in the non-digital world for centuries.
Oh, and I can just as easily walk into my local library and checkout out a CD or a DVD. As the media oligopoly tightens its grip on our society (please, no Star Wars jokes), it seems that they will have to attack libraries themselves in order to follow through with many of the assertions they have been making to their inevitable conclusion.
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???
Harry Potter and the Entertainment Industry (Score:3, Funny)
Did anyone else think of that subject as the title of a new Harry Potter book instead?
Re:Harry Potter and the Entertainment Industry (Score:3, Insightful)
The funny thing is that the fourth book was in a way about the entertainment industry. It showed how the media can make people believe things that aren't necessarily true.
The latest one (#5) continued this thread, and also delved into the world of politics and corrupt (i.e. self-serving) governments.
unworkable (Score:3, Funny)
I don't think Rowlings is going to turn Harry Potter into Rambo, or that the audience would go for a happy ending full of burning buildings and either corpses or people screaming in death agony.
Come to think of it, I'd find that entertaining.
Being on the NY Times doesn't make it true (Score:3, Insightful)
Normally I'd agree in the conservative estimate of 2 readers per book, but I think that a large portion of sales are driven by a 'me too' mentality. I'd put readership at more like
Would anyone care to bet against me that sales of Tolkien's LOTR and The Hobbit books skyrocketed because of the movies and not just because everyone suddenly, simultaneously and miraculously figured out that they're just really good books (which they are)?
Face it. These people (a lot of them) buying the new HP book are buying it because everyone says they have to and to get a preview of the next movie.
The Hulk just happens to have had fewer big-budget movie prequels than HP (not counting the low-budget Bill Bixby junk) and LOTS less media hype. The Hulk CG also sucks from what I've seen in the trailers. Hopefully I'll change my mind when I watch the DVD in 6 months.
Gawd I hate faulty (I think the word is 'specious') reasoning almost as much as I hate the knuckleheads who believe the faulty reasoning simply because it was written in the NY Times. Probably mostly the same knuckleheads who stood in line to but the latest HP book so that it could sit on the coffee table to show everyone how smart their knucklehead kids are because they can read.
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 ar
Re:Being on the NY Times doesn't make it true (Score:3, Insightful)
Uh, the Harry Potter book that will be the basis for the next movie came out years ago. The fact is that the Harry Potter series was a children's literature sensation before even the first movie. I'm sure the movies have contributed the popularity of the subsequent books, but the first movie was highly anticpated because of the books.
Yes, the books sell lar
sharing books (Score:4, Funny)
and, assuming a very conservative average of two readers per book, a larger audience as well.
People are sharing books! Quick, send in the licensing police. That's $100 million in lost sales. This new trend in book piracy must be stamped out before our book industry is ruined.
It's the Economic Downturn Stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone else getting tired of this? I mean, can't reporters make the connection? When was the economy at it's peek? In 2000. What has it been doing since 2000? Going into deeper and deeper recession. What does that mean? People are spending less money on goods and services.
What?! The entertainment industry saw a drop in sales during a worldwide economic recession? It must be the pirates fault!
Re:It's the Economic Downturn Stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
The consumer is willing to give up money for th
Re:It's the Economic Downturn Stupid (Score:3, Insightful)
my car's transmission system crushs Harry (Score:2, Insightful)
Also, the author IMHO compares unfairly the Hulk with the newest Harry Potter book. My suspicion is that the amount of money spent on marketing is probably the same order of
Re:my car's transmission system crushs Harry (Score:3, Interesting)
They spent about 3.5 million in advertising for HP#5 ... and ther
Book piracy... (Score:2)
Wonder if the media will ever notice?
Somewhat right... (Score:4, Insightful)
Now things are different for me. Now I live in the small town of Robbinsville, NC. There are 2 video rental stores both with poor selections and no movie theaters at all. I love movies, so yes, I admit, I download movies that I used to go to theaters to see, cause otherwise I have to wait for the rental. For movies that have been out a few months however... I now use netflix as my rental source, I still don't prefer to P2P, as the quality isn't good and I personally believe that if I like something, I should pay for it so that the people who make it get the incentive to make more things like that.
Money makes the world work, but the article does make a point, everyone targets the younger crowd who have no money to spend, yet they continue to raise their prices higher and higher till their target audience can't afford it anymore, of course they would turn to P2P. I mean movie ticket prices are somewhat rediculous, there are places that it costs $10 for a matinee ticket! Why would a kid want to shell out $10 for 2 hours of mindless entertainment, when they could pay $17 for a book that will entertain them for days. Even the audiobook version is 24 hours of entertainment. And what Rowling can do for young minds is far more magical then anything Harry learns at Hogwarts. For a long time children have fallen away from reading, the instant gratification world in which we live has bred children to not want to read, and in many cases, not be able to read. Yet J.K. Rowling has the most amazing ability to grab minds child and adult alike and make them crave more and more. Each book she releases longer then the previous, this one nearly 900 pages in length, yet children as young as 6 make it through it not once but multiple times. And when Rowling can't write fast enough for these eager readers, the children actually look to OTHER books. Rowling has done more for literacy then anyone in the late 20th century.
Sadly it won't be enough, we live in far too much of a video world, Children come home from school and immediately turn on the TV to watch increasingly disgusting cartoons or play mindless video games, they do this until they go to bed, then get up and continue the next morning before school, when the weekends come instead of sitting outside under a tree reading a good book, they spend the whole day inside burning images into their eyes, and when they cannot get enough through TV and what movies they can afford to see in theaters, they hop online and download the rest of the available movies. Would the best thing be a reasonable price on entertainment? Or less entertainment with more quality to it?
Quality, price, and format. (Score:3, Insightful)
Let me download a high quality FLAC (maybe even optionally at higher bitrates; 24bit 96khz would make audiophiles cream) so I can transcode to whatever format I like. Let me download a smaller MP3 or Ogg at a range of qualities. Let me have my full fair use out of it, and maybe charge on a sliding scale based on the different sizes. Hell, let me get it elsewhere and just pay for a cheap license so I can support my favourite artist.
Let me not have to worry about whether some dumbass transcoded all his Ogg's from his MP3's encoded with Xing and ripped from a scratched CD in burst mode. Let me not have to spend 3 weeks downloading an album from a billion different encodes. Let me not have to wait for someone to post something to news and spend hours every day hunting through 100's of MB's of headers.
If the music industry can't compete with slow annoying overloaded networks full of substandard rips of music that doesn't even come properly indexed, it doesn't deserve to make money.
And no, pouring more money into lawsuits does not count as competing.
Re:Quality, price, and format. (Score:3, Insightful)
Um...
So, not only do I have to use a specific OS and a specific application, I have no choice over format and have to use a low bitrate AAC? I don't think so.
Retail Respect (Score:3, Insightful)
The other camp, such as independent bands, movie studios, book publishers etc. treat consumers with the respect they deserve. They recognize that people will use good (or at least some) judgment in their decisions and buy quality and originality. They are not requiered to purchase any one provider's product and thus the providers recognize the need to truly differentiate themselves from the rest.
Sadly, though I'm not sure how, the method which does not serve the customers seems to be winning
in defense of the Hulk movie (Score:4, Insightful)
Not to say the NYT article wasn't interesting.
Re:Brilliant (Score:5, Interesting)
For instance, my International Political Economy professor at one point was on a plane heading for Brazil (he was studying something or other while there) and sat next to a guy who worked in the marketing department for the lab that produces and develops Mallox (or was it Alka-Seltzer?).
They got to talking and it turned out the guy was going down there to help figure out this problem they were having in sales. In some areas their product was selling very well, but in other areas it wasn't selling at all. Marketing had spent billions of dollars (litterally) and said "people in those areas like products that are from the US, so we should put a little American Flag on the packages" and he was going down to do something of a feasability check on this.
My professor turned to him and said, evidently without missing a beat "your product isn't selling well in those areas because your product provides relief for over-eating and the people in those areas are starving!"
The guy's face dropped and shortly thereafter was taking down contact information and writing notes.
You would think this would be obvious, but sometimes that is exactly the solution is hiding.
Re:Brilliant (Score:3, Interesting)
2) "Billions" may be an exageration to the point done either by him to make a point or through my faulty memory--it has been three years since I took the class. It may also represent many years worth of expenditures.
"In addition, are we expected to believe that a company that would invest megabucks would be completely ignorant of the demographics of their target market?"
Have you ever studied Brazil?
Brazil is a neomercantalist economy which has an unbelievable disp
Spelling and spellcasting... (Score:2)
'Abutor recte'... as you might see in Rowling's books
Re:misquoted (Score:2)
Re:Adults who read Harry Potter (Score:2)
Re:Adults who read Harry Potter (Score:2)
Opinions on "culture" from a Henry Rollins fan.
How can anybody take anyone like you seriously?
Re:Adults who read Harry Potter (Score:2)
"Maybe the greatest point in rock and roll was when Fred Schneider, the lead singer from the B52's, sang 'Boys in bikinis! GIRLS ON SURFBOARDS!'"
Have you read any of the books? (Score:2)
I initially saw them as children's books as well, but when I did read them I enjoyed them. Sure it's not great literature, but it is amusing, well-written lecture.
It seems *you* are the sheep, for not even judging these books on their own merits.
Re:Adults who read Harry Potter (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm definately not a fan of the HP series (saw both movies, just wish I could get those few hours of my life back) but my girlfriend has read them all, and seems to enjoy them. It hurts nobody, so how is it so wrong?
Re:Adults who read Harry Potter (Score:2)
Re:Books are tangible (Score:2)
In case you don't know, there is an ascii edition and a pdf edition of the newest book floating about. While it may be somewhat harder to actually scan in a book, it's far easier to propigate once scanned, esp if it's just ascii. I for one am PERFECTLY happy reading a book using either vanberg's list on the pc, or less under linux. Lets face it, text is easy to compress and faster to transmit.
How could it get in the net so quickly? Well, it may be a 800+ page book, but if the t
Re:Theres two ebook-versions out there! (Score:4, Informative)