Dear reader
One of the European Commission's top priorities is to drive forward the development of the market for online music, films, broadcasts, games, books, news media and other creative content. A Commission Communication is expected early next year. In the meanwhile, there have been a series of European Union organised conferences attended by industry players to help identify the key themes and issues.
I've just come back from the latest one which was held in Paris last week under the auspices of the French Presidency of the European Union. It took place at the Musee Quai Branley in the 7th arrondisement, in sight of the Eiffel Tower and in one of the nicest areas of Paris. Shame we were stuck underground for two days during the workshop as the sun shone on the charming boulevards and cafes!
If at this point you find reading about about Paris in the sun just too depressing as you face the start of another week full of who know's what financial shocks, you can click here to take you to the page where you can read or download the conference conclusions (in English or French). Otherwise, I hope you'll read on a bit further.
The conference focused on two central themes:
- 'Towards what economy of on-line creative contents are we headed?'
- 'How to promote legal offers of content and fight against piracy?'
As you can readily gather, the underlying message is clear: you can't fight piracy of online content unless you can offer the consumer access to that content under a legal alternative and without active and effective measures to combat piracy you won't get the investment in creating those legal business models. Catch 22? I don't think so but there's no real alternative.
The great and the good were there: from the Hollywood studios, the major record labels, the Telcos and ISPs, Broadcasters, to YouTube, Myspace, collecting societies, software companies and trade associations and many others.
There was a real sense that we're already in 'make or break' period for developing business models for online content. As one speaker eloquently put it, 'it's really hard to sell something at the front door when it's being given away free at the back door'.
The conference was organised into four workshops: (1) 'How have consumer behaviour behaviour, use of content on-line and supply evolved? (2) 'What financial models for creative content online?' (3) ; 'Towards an effective interoperability' (4) 'Towards a greater on-line circulation of content' and (5) Towards a European rights management system'.
I've already given you a link to the summaries and conclusions presented by the chairs of the workshops. But in my next few blogs, I'm going to drill down a bit further into what I think are the key messages.
Have a good week!
Laurence Kaye
Recent Comments