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As much as I dislike Apple's walled garden approach in principle, I have to admit that in practice it protects creators, to some extent, from the selfish unwash

As much as I dislike Apple's walled garden approach in principle, I have to admit that in practice it protects creators, to some extent, from the selfish unwashed masses that think nothing of taking the hard work of others for free. Here at HN we understand the more nuanced philosophical issues of information sharing but its not hard to imagine the net reduced to a wasteland of amateurish trash without some protection for creators. Steve Jobs' vision is an elitist vision but I find myself more sympathetic lately. Only a tiny fraction of the population has the talent, drive and inspiration to create work of quality. Here in Vietnam you can buy a DVD of any recent Hollywood movie for 50 cents. Is it a coincidence that the domestic film industry is junk? In the physical world the only way to preempt a "tragedy of the commons" is to restrict the commons. I'd like to think the net is different but current trends suggest otherwise.

Blarat 15y ago
"Here in Vietnam you can buy a DVD of any recent Hollywood movie for 50 cents. Is it a coincidence that the domestic film industry is junk?" Well I live in Sweden where DVDs/Blue Rays are quite expensive, but still the domestic film industry is still mostly junk. I don't think one factor has much relevance to the other ;)
- cageface 15y ago
  I don't know about the average quality of Swedish films, but the Swedish film industry has done plenty of brilliant work over the years. Swedish films may not have the budget or production values of Hollywood films, but they are, in my opinion, still skillfully made.
intended 15y ago
Here in India, I can pirate any movie for free and for 2.0$ if I want to buy a DVD. Its not stopped our film industry from producing new and high quality material. Counter anecdote to your anecdote. EDIT: Actually theres a small phenomena going on that I've recently noticed in the Indian cinema/piracy scene which is worth letting other people know. Quick background first: Bhojpuri Cinema - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhojpuri_cinema http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhojpuri_cinema Bhojpuri is a dialect of Hindi, spoken mostly in the north easter states of India. Bhojpuri cinema was a relatively dead creature, with a small audience and it paled in financial/audience significance compared to your typical bollywood fare. Now a lot of labor such as security guards, house help, cooks, are immigrants from those states, and of course they speak bhojpuri. They've had to watch hindi cinema when outside of their states though; the opportunity cost of putting up a bhojpuri movie, instead of a bollywood flop, is too high. The choices of bhojpuri speakers were basically Hindi movies or, Hindi movies. Of late though, cheap color mobile phones, about Rs.1,500 to Rs.3,000 ($25 - $50), coupled with rampant piracy, are allowing that gap to be bridged. Often when I come in late at night, I can catch security watching a movie on a cheap phone. I wish I had numbers to know how much is being consumed (how much bhojpuri vs regular hindi cinema for example), but I do know that bhojpuri cinema is going to be able to keep and build a stronger network of viewers. The viewers themselves are able to identify and patronize the art form, something which wouldn't have happened otherwise. TLDR: Piracy and cheap mobile phones are letting niche hindi dialect speakers consume and watch movies which would have been drowned out against bollywood. Considering the size of the populations, its interesting to see how this plays out.
- cageface 15y ago
  How does the Indian film industry make money? DVD sales? Theater tickets? Something else? I've heard that the Indian film industry is pretty deeply infiltrated by organized crime but I don't know if that's really true.
  - intended 15y ago
    Used to be infiltrated by crime - around 1990s iirc. The Mumbai police brutally cleaned up a lot of the mob out here, and things have become a lot cleaner since. The key driver for film would would have to be box office ticket sales, (i'm going to ignore food, product placements and the like). DVD/Video sales will be a much lower portion of it. Let me see if i can get any numbers... ah found it. - Numbers are for 2010 and in INR bn (1 USD = 45.0 INR) Domestic Theatrical: 62.0 Overseas Theatrical: 6.6 Home Video: 2.3 Cable & Satellite Rights: 8.3 Ancillary Revenue Streams: 4.1 I got this from a KPMG report on the Indian media industry for 2011 - http://www.kpmg.com/IN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ThoughtLeadership/FICCI-KPMG-Report-2011.pdf http://www.kpmg.com/IN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ThoughtLeadershi... The relevant info is on page 61

Blarat 15y ago

"Here in Vietnam you can buy a DVD of any recent Hollywood movie for 50 cents. Is it a coincidence that the domestic film industry is junk?" Well I live in Sweden where DVDs/Blue Rays are quite expensive, but still the domestic film industry is still mostly junk. I don't think one factor has much relevance to the other ;)

cageface 15y ago
I don't know about the average quality of Swedish films, but the Swedish film industry has done plenty of brilliant work over the years. Swedish films may not have the budget or production values of Hollywood films, but they are, in my opinion, still skillfully made.

intended 15y ago

Here in India, I can pirate any movie for free and for 2.0$ if I want to buy a DVD. Its not stopped our film industry from producing new and high quality material. Counter anecdote to your anecdote. EDIT: Actually theres a small phenomena going on that I've recently noticed in the Indian cinema/piracy scene which is worth letting other people know. Quick background first: Bhojpuri Cinema - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhojpuri_cinema http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhojpuri_cinema Bhojpuri is a dialect of Hindi, spoken mostly in the north easter states of India. Bhojpuri cinema was a relatively dead creature, with a small audience and it paled in financial/audience significance compared to your typical bollywood fare. Now a lot of labor such as security guards, house help, cooks, are immigrants from those states, and of course they speak bhojpuri. They've had to watch hindi cinema when outside of their states though; the opportunity cost of putting up a bhojpuri movie, instead of a bollywood flop, is too high. The choices of bhojpuri speakers were basically Hindi movies or, Hindi movies. Of late though, cheap color mobile phones, about Rs.1,500 to Rs.3,000 ($25 - $50), coupled with rampant piracy, are allowing that gap to be bridged. Often when I come in late at night, I can catch security watching a movie on a cheap phone. I wish I had numbers to know how much is being consumed (how much bhojpuri vs regular hindi cinema for example), but I do know that bhojpuri cinema is going to be able to keep and build a stronger network of viewers. The viewers themselves are able to identify and patronize the art form, something which wouldn't have happened otherwise. TLDR: Piracy and cheap mobile phones are letting niche hindi dialect speakers consume and watch movies which would have been drowned out against bollywood. Considering the size of the populations, its interesting to see how this plays out.

cageface 15y ago
How does the Indian film industry make money? DVD sales? Theater tickets? Something else? I've heard that the Indian film industry is pretty deeply infiltrated by organized crime but I don't know if that's really true.
- intended 15y ago
  Used to be infiltrated by crime - around 1990s iirc. The Mumbai police brutally cleaned up a lot of the mob out here, and things have become a lot cleaner since. The key driver for film would would have to be box office ticket sales, (i'm going to ignore food, product placements and the like). DVD/Video sales will be a much lower portion of it. Let me see if i can get any numbers... ah found it. - Numbers are for 2010 and in INR bn (1 USD = 45.0 INR) Domestic Theatrical: 62.0 Overseas Theatrical: 6.6 Home Video: 2.3 Cable & Satellite Rights: 8.3 Ancillary Revenue Streams: 4.1 I got this from a KPMG report on the Indian media industry for 2011 - http://www.kpmg.com/IN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ThoughtLeadership/FICCI-KPMG-Report-2011.pdf http://www.kpmg.com/IN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ThoughtLeadershi... The relevant info is on page 61