6 ms·

The article seems to conflate the proliferation of music streaming services and of video streaming services. But the difference couldn't be greater: Spotify, Ap

The article seems to conflate the proliferation of music streaming services and of video streaming services. But the difference couldn't be greater: Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Music have a majority overlap in their catalogs. Apart from the odd exclusive, it would make little sense to subscribe to more than one of them. Meanwhile, video streaming services have almost no catalog overlap, and genuinely do represent the return of cable-style bundling. Even beyond Amazon- or Netflix-produced content, the world of general film and TV content licensing is such that it's rare for a film or show to even appear on two of the top-tier services.

monkmartinez 10y ago
I absolutely agree and would add the article seems to miss a crucial aspect "unbundling" which, for a lot of people, are spending less on "entertainment" a monthly basis. Netflix and Amazon haven't spun "unbundling" into reverse. If anything, they're contributing to the acceleration of the phenomena. I didn't sign up for Amazon Prime for the movies or the music. The value for my money was there just for 2 day shipping and would keep it for that reason alone, everything else is a perk. The article starts off with "No longer would anyone have to buy a $99-a-month triple-play package when all they wanted was the History Channel." And ends with, "the bundle is not a decaying symbol of legacy distribution. Rather, it is the new network effect: a critical strategy to amplify scale in the hope of building or deepening a moat to protect against foes everywhere." I guess business school elites, like the author, are having a hard time wrapping their minds around what is taking place. It is pretty simple for me; Consumers want more choice and want it for less money on a monthly basis. They are more realistic about how much time they can devote to watching and/or listening to content which reflects in the winners and losers of this space. Further, the proliferation of Android set top boxes, Fire sticks, Kodi boxes, Chromecasts, and Rokus together with youtube and other streaming/free content will continue to erode all of the above.
- visarga 10y ago
  People's interest in movies might take a backseat to interest in people-generated videos, and with good reason.
  - fian 10y ago
    Absolutely. Over the last year an interest in woodworking has caused me to shift from almost 100% Streaming TV/Movies to maybe 40% Youtube and 60% TV/Movies (Netflix type services). Youtube recommendations occasionally put me onto a new content creator/creation group that adds to my regular viewing. Much of this is both educational (how-to videos) and entertaining. Finding something with the right mix of educational impact and entertainment value is, IMHO, far rarer. The rate of new (albeit shorter duration) content on Youtube seems to outpace the rate of content I want to watch from the TV/Movie streaming services.
    - verinus 10y ago
      Being interested in woodworking myself I wonder if you could recommend some resources? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
      - spronkey 10y ago
        The craftsman: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork The engineer: https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel And the madman: https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin
      - speg 10y ago
        In addition to Spronkey's list check out https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer
      - coldpie 10y ago
        I'm into hand tool woodworking, and for YouTube specifically, I follow The Renaissance Woodworker, Rob Cosman, and Paul Sellers. I also wrote up a short article aimed at beginners like myself that points to other kinds of resources: http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-newbie-woodworker/ http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-ne...
      - 10y ago
- gpawl 10y ago
  > The value for my money was there just for 2 day shipping and would keep it for that reason alone, everything else is a perk. If that were true for a large number of customers, the perk wouldn't exist. Amazon is the "Everything Store" and Prime is the "Everything program". It's clearly bundling Every part of it reinforces loyalty to Amazon in unrelated sectors, from books to electronics to music to movies to more.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Twisell 10y ago
It also boils down to the prices they try to charges you for dematerialized goods. While music and videogames industries now seems to have find a good balance, Tv/movies is lagging behind.(except Netflix) Do they really expect me to spend $80+ in order to introduce starwars to my kids while my father bough them on VHS and my brother on DVD? (And that not even counting all the merch bough alongside...)
- coredog64 10y ago
  The original Star Wars VHS was $99. Not only is that a lot of money today, it was a phenomenal sum back in the early 80s when the product was released.
  - ghaff 10y ago
    A lot of VHS pricing for a long time followed a price to rent at first release (i.e. video rental stores would pay a high price during the prime new release rental period) with the price dropping after some period so that individuals would buy it. Pricing was higher overall but it wasn't that high in general.
- gpawl 10y ago
  If you have a VHS and a DVD player, you don't need to pay $80 to play those movies.
  - Twisell 10y ago
    And that's what I did, but I would gladly have paid a few bucks or give a % of my monthly Netflix subscription to spare me the slow conversion from DVD to MP4 (because I only have an AppleTV and yes converting owned content is legal in my country)

monkmartinez 10y ago

I absolutely agree and would add the article seems to miss a crucial aspect "unbundling" which, for a lot of people, are spending less on "entertainment" a monthly basis. Netflix and Amazon haven't spun "unbundling" into reverse. If anything, they're contributing to the acceleration of the phenomena. I didn't sign up for Amazon Prime for the movies or the music. The value for my money was there just for 2 day shipping and would keep it for that reason alone, everything else is a perk. The article starts off with "No longer would anyone have to buy a $99-a-month triple-play package when all they wanted was the History Channel." And ends with, "the bundle is not a decaying symbol of legacy distribution. Rather, it is the new network effect: a critical strategy to amplify scale in the hope of building or deepening a moat to protect against foes everywhere." I guess business school elites, like the author, are having a hard time wrapping their minds around what is taking place. It is pretty simple for me; Consumers want more choice and want it for less money on a monthly basis. They are more realistic about how much time they can devote to watching and/or listening to content which reflects in the winners and losers of this space. Further, the proliferation of Android set top boxes, Fire sticks, Kodi boxes, Chromecasts, and Rokus together with youtube and other streaming/free content will continue to erode all of the above.

visarga 10y ago
People's interest in movies might take a backseat to interest in people-generated videos, and with good reason.
- fian 10y ago
  Absolutely. Over the last year an interest in woodworking has caused me to shift from almost 100% Streaming TV/Movies to maybe 40% Youtube and 60% TV/Movies (Netflix type services). Youtube recommendations occasionally put me onto a new content creator/creation group that adds to my regular viewing. Much of this is both educational (how-to videos) and entertaining. Finding something with the right mix of educational impact and entertainment value is, IMHO, far rarer. The rate of new (albeit shorter duration) content on Youtube seems to outpace the rate of content I want to watch from the TV/Movie streaming services.
  - verinus 10y ago
    Being interested in woodworking myself I wonder if you could recommend some resources? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
    - spronkey 10y ago
      The craftsman: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork The engineer: https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel And the madman: https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin
    - speg 10y ago
      In addition to Spronkey's list check out https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer
    - coldpie 10y ago
      I'm into hand tool woodworking, and for YouTube specifically, I follow The Renaissance Woodworker, Rob Cosman, and Paul Sellers. I also wrote up a short article aimed at beginners like myself that points to other kinds of resources: http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-newbie-woodworker/ http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-ne...
    - 10y ago
gpawl 10y ago
> The value for my money was there just for 2 day shipping and would keep it for that reason alone, everything else is a perk. If that were true for a large number of customers, the perk wouldn't exist. Amazon is the "Everything Store" and Prime is the "Everything program". It's clearly bundling Every part of it reinforces loyalty to Amazon in unrelated sectors, from books to electronics to music to movies to more.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Twisell 10y ago

It also boils down to the prices they try to charges you for dematerialized goods. While music and videogames industries now seems to have find a good balance, Tv/movies is lagging behind.(except Netflix) Do they really expect me to spend $80+ in order to introduce starwars to my kids while my father bough them on VHS and my brother on DVD? (And that not even counting all the merch bough alongside...)

coredog64 10y ago
The original Star Wars VHS was $99. Not only is that a lot of money today, it was a phenomenal sum back in the early 80s when the product was released.
- ghaff 10y ago
  A lot of VHS pricing for a long time followed a price to rent at first release (i.e. video rental stores would pay a high price during the prime new release rental period) with the price dropping after some period so that individuals would buy it. Pricing was higher overall but it wasn't that high in general.
gpawl 10y ago
If you have a VHS and a DVD player, you don't need to pay $80 to play those movies.
- Twisell 10y ago
  And that's what I did, but I would gladly have paid a few bucks or give a % of my monthly Netflix subscription to spare me the slow conversion from DVD to MP4 (because I only have an AppleTV and yes converting owned content is legal in my country)