4 ms·

It’s getting harder for small studios to compete with big tech (2020)

74 points by kvee 6y ago

chrisseaton 6y ago
The title and article use the word 'studio' about ten times before explaining what they mean by it - 'an interactive design studio' - so the kind of studio where people are doing interactive art.
- cecja 6y ago
  Motion Graphics, Animation, Advertising. In the last ten years a lot of small studios popped up because the technology and gear was getting cheaper and cheaper. Now most of the smaller studios can do a lot of grunt work or advertising but are not getting invites on bidings on "real" vfx work because the new technologies got expensive again... it's basically a cycle that follows an diffusion curve.
qrbLPHiKpiux 6y ago
> We use cookies on It’s Nice That to analyse and measure activity across the website, provide content from third parties and assist with our marketing efforts. Please be aware that your experience may be disrupted until you accept cookies. WHY!!! ???
- faeyanpiraat 6y ago
  To make you and me bounce instantly, thats why!
- iujjkfjdkkdkf 6y ago
  Additionally, their cookie consent is straight out of that caricature that was posted on HN yesterday. After deselecting all the ways they want to track you, the default choice at the bottom is "allow all cookies". This kind of scummy behavior needs to stop.
- greggyb 6y ago
  There's a check box next to the cookies. When you click it, an 'X' fills the box. You could convince me that either state of the box accepts cookies and the other declines.
- kjakm 6y ago
  You can click 'manage settings' and disable the analytics cookie (which seems to be the only one enabled be default unless you click 'accept all'.
  - qrbLPHiKpiux 6y ago
    I didn't read it becaus of this. I didn't want to accept any cookies.
king_magic 6y ago
Maybe it has something to do with the limited commercial and/or artistic value these interactive design studios bring to the world? The examples in this article all pretty much look like college students' mediocre digital art projects. Cute and all, but I look at these and think... "who really cares enough to pay what you likely charge for these?"
- skrebbel 6y ago
  I don't know, one of their projects got over 1000 upvotes on HN yesterday. If you feel like that's a mediocre student art project then fine but seems to me that not everybody shares your taste and judgment. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26518290 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26518290)
  - king_magic 6y ago
    Yeah I mean, look, I saw that. I don't think it's particularly clever or interesting. As a programming project, I'd consider it mediocre at best. As an art project? More like a joke - at best. But to each their own, I guess?
  - throwawayay02 6y ago
    You'd be surprised how cheap a HN upvote is.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
kjakm 6y ago
Sounds like they actually mean competing for people's attention rather than competing on an economic level. When people are essentially addicted to TikTok + Instagram they don't have time to interact with the fun projects the studio creates. Interesting idea. For aybody producing anything, it's almost essential these days to have a presence on social media and trying to get viewers off the social media to your website is exceedinlgly diffificult.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > the fun projects the studio creates What actually are they creating? I'm finding it hard to see some concrete examples. Do they mean the abstract videos and Flash-style games on this page? Yeah... I can see how most working people don't have time for that kind of stuff. But I don't see Big Tech doing these things either so where's the competition they're talking about? It's not like Google have an absurdist Flash-game division do they?
  - spullara 6y ago
    I think the point is that all entertainment competes with all other entertainment for attention. And it is a zero-sum game.
- nxc18 6y ago
  To be fair, much of the content on TikTok is more creative, more profound, or both. I see serious media criticism, commentary on the perspective of black Americans facing the threat of police brutality, lighthearted media criticism/parody, music and music history analysis, behind-the-scenes looks at a variety of unfamiliar professions, and so much more. And this studio seems to produce high-effort, low-impact content pointing out that Google isn’t incentivized to tell children they’ve drawn penises or that people like popping balloons. The victimhood complex is a tired look, the studio should try putting their content on TikTok, the artistic constraints might help them be more creative and original.
  - devoutsalsa 6y ago
    TikTok has some great stuff. I prefer YouTube on most days, which also has some great stuff.
naringas 6y ago
This seems to be by design. (or at least a consequence of economic incentives which are politically defined and individual but enacted by the selfish behavior of individuals (specially compnay-size "individuals"). rant-on: the individual potentializing power of software (which necessitates open-source-style collaboration) goes against the centralizing power of empires. thus, the economic incentives (softly but relentlessly) lead us all into a situation of increasing complexity (google-scale practices for all) which make for ever more complicated software. combined with a lack of incentives towards simplifying this complexity (which is very difficult) lands us in a situation in which software only gets more complex requiring ever larger groups of engineers to be able to handle them. this also happens to law practice, specially in common law systems. /rant-off
- andrewjl 6y ago
  What is an example of something that, in your view, would simplify this complexity?
williesleg 6y ago
Yeah and google has their goons in Los Angeles getting rid of the homeless. WTF big tech? And why isn't there graffiti and homeless in Disneyland in california? California is all graffiti and homeless, why is disney not inclusive?
intrasight 6y ago
Should be re-titled "It's getting harder for artists to compete with TikTok for user attention". That is if you even want to have "harder" in the title since that concept was just mentioned in one sentence in a long article.
probably_bug 6y ago
These are the guys behind https://clickclickclick.click https://clickclickclick.click
smoldesu 6y ago
I think the writing is on the wall for a "free" internet. We've been given 20 years to decentralize the internet, and we really only divided the crowd to competing platforms (many of which have overlapping userbases). There's a great argument to be made that the internet is already decentralized, but the majority of users are too afraid to step outside their social media bubble. Our idea of "exploring the internet" has been reduced to an infinite social Turing machine where we're too addicted to leave. We've come to the point where most Twitter and Facebook users won't even try to defend their usage of their respective platforms, which is a signal that something needs to change. The computing industry is at a boiling point: transistor density is stagnating, capitalism is roaring, the greatest digital mysteries are being solved, and the average person is feeling increasingly oppressed online. I have hope for the future of the web, just remove the goddamn cookies from your website and I'll take your bid for an equitable digital future seriously.
- philipkglass 6y ago
  I run my own site with no ads, analytics, or conscious SEO. It's nearing 20 years old now. It's significantly cheaper and easier to run now than it was when I started. The direct hosting cost is less than a standard Netflix subscription. The site still shows up on the front page of Google results for the (admittedly niche, non-commercial) topics it covers well. It still scratches the personal itch I set out to satisfy. If I wanted to make money from it, I would consider it a disaster. But I never set out to make money. I set out to discuss something that I found interesting and meet like-minded people who shared that interest. In that regard it has been a smashing success. There are still enough people like me -- writing to share their interests with the world, expecting payment only in the form of reader engagement -- that I could read their writings all day, every day and never run out. Facebook doesn't threaten my own site any more than McDonald's threatens my own cooking.
renewiltord 6y ago
That's because your art has to be significantly better than my friend's art to be worth my time. One's child's scribble > one's friend's Instagram story > a blockbuster > art from arbitrary stranger. Social proximity and art skill are both valuable to me. In the past, because of the inability to see the best in the world, we settled for that valley where someone has no social proximity and middling skill. Now I can see high fidelity zero proximity high skill whenever I want and I can see high proximity low skill whenever I want. The middling valley is no longer useful to me. Be awesome or be close. You're competing with Kanye and the people I love most.
williesleg 6y ago
I don't understand why disney has no graffiti or homeless in any of their movies. They're not real.

74 points by kvee 6y ago

The title and article use the word 'studio' about ten times before explaining what they mean by it - 'an interactive design studio' - so the kind of studio where people are doing interactive art.

cecja 6y ago
Motion Graphics, Animation, Advertising. In the last ten years a lot of small studios popped up because the technology and gear was getting cheaper and cheaper. Now most of the smaller studios can do a lot of grunt work or advertising but are not getting invites on bidings on "real" vfx work because the new technologies got expensive again... it's basically a cycle that follows an diffusion curve.

qrbLPHiKpiux 6y ago

> We use cookies on It’s Nice That to analyse and measure activity across the website, provide content from third parties and assist with our marketing efforts. Please be aware that your experience may be disrupted until you accept cookies. WHY!!! ???

faeyanpiraat 6y ago
To make you and me bounce instantly, thats why!
iujjkfjdkkdkf 6y ago
Additionally, their cookie consent is straight out of that caricature that was posted on HN yesterday. After deselecting all the ways they want to track you, the default choice at the bottom is "allow all cookies". This kind of scummy behavior needs to stop.
greggyb 6y ago
There's a check box next to the cookies. When you click it, an 'X' fills the box. You could convince me that either state of the box accepts cookies and the other declines.
kjakm 6y ago
You can click 'manage settings' and disable the analytics cookie (which seems to be the only one enabled be default unless you click 'accept all'.
- qrbLPHiKpiux 6y ago
  I didn't read it becaus of this. I didn't want to accept any cookies.

king_magic 6y ago

Maybe it has something to do with the limited commercial and/or artistic value these interactive design studios bring to the world? The examples in this article all pretty much look like college students' mediocre digital art projects. Cute and all, but I look at these and think... "who really cares enough to pay what you likely charge for these?"

skrebbel 6y ago
I don't know, one of their projects got over 1000 upvotes on HN yesterday. If you feel like that's a mediocre student art project then fine but seems to me that not everybody shares your taste and judgment. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26518290 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26518290)
- king_magic 6y ago
  Yeah I mean, look, I saw that. I don't think it's particularly clever or interesting. As a programming project, I'd consider it mediocre at best. As an art project? More like a joke - at best. But to each their own, I guess?
- throwawayay02 6y ago
  You'd be surprised how cheap a HN upvote is.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

kjakm 6y ago

Sounds like they actually mean competing for people's attention rather than competing on an economic level. When people are essentially addicted to TikTok + Instagram they don't have time to interact with the fun projects the studio creates. Interesting idea. For aybody producing anything, it's almost essential these days to have a presence on social media and trying to get viewers off the social media to your website is exceedinlgly diffificult.

chrisseaton 6y ago
> the fun projects the studio creates What actually are they creating? I'm finding it hard to see some concrete examples. Do they mean the abstract videos and Flash-style games on this page? Yeah... I can see how most working people don't have time for that kind of stuff. But I don't see Big Tech doing these things either so where's the competition they're talking about? It's not like Google have an absurdist Flash-game division do they?
- spullara 6y ago
  I think the point is that all entertainment competes with all other entertainment for attention. And it is a zero-sum game.
nxc18 6y ago
To be fair, much of the content on TikTok is more creative, more profound, or both. I see serious media criticism, commentary on the perspective of black Americans facing the threat of police brutality, lighthearted media criticism/parody, music and music history analysis, behind-the-scenes looks at a variety of unfamiliar professions, and so much more. And this studio seems to produce high-effort, low-impact content pointing out that Google isn’t incentivized to tell children they’ve drawn penises or that people like popping balloons. The victimhood complex is a tired look, the studio should try putting their content on TikTok, the artistic constraints might help them be more creative and original.
- devoutsalsa 6y ago
  TikTok has some great stuff. I prefer YouTube on most days, which also has some great stuff.

naringas 6y ago

This seems to be by design. (or at least a consequence of economic incentives which are politically defined and individual but enacted by the selfish behavior of individuals (specially compnay-size "individuals"). rant-on: the individual potentializing power of software (which necessitates open-source-style collaboration) goes against the centralizing power of empires. thus, the economic incentives (softly but relentlessly) lead us all into a situation of increasing complexity (google-scale practices for all) which make for ever more complicated software. combined with a lack of incentives towards simplifying this complexity (which is very difficult) lands us in a situation in which software only gets more complex requiring ever larger groups of engineers to be able to handle them. this also happens to law practice, specially in common law systems. /rant-off

andrewjl 6y ago
What is an example of something that, in your view, would simplify this complexity?

williesleg 6y ago

Yeah and google has their goons in Los Angeles getting rid of the homeless. WTF big tech? And why isn't there graffiti and homeless in Disneyland in california? California is all graffiti and homeless, why is disney not inclusive?

intrasight 6y ago

Should be re-titled "It's getting harder for artists to compete with TikTok for user attention". That is if you even want to have "harder" in the title since that concept was just mentioned in one sentence in a long article.

probably_bug 6y ago

These are the guys behind https://clickclickclick.click https://clickclickclick.click

smoldesu 6y ago

I think the writing is on the wall for a "free" internet. We've been given 20 years to decentralize the internet, and we really only divided the crowd to competing platforms (many of which have overlapping userbases). There's a great argument to be made that the internet is already decentralized, but the majority of users are too afraid to step outside their social media bubble. Our idea of "exploring the internet" has been reduced to an infinite social Turing machine where we're too addicted to leave. We've come to the point where most Twitter and Facebook users won't even try to defend their usage of their respective platforms, which is a signal that something needs to change. The computing industry is at a boiling point: transistor density is stagnating, capitalism is roaring, the greatest digital mysteries are being solved, and the average person is feeling increasingly oppressed online. I have hope for the future of the web, just remove the goddamn cookies from your website and I'll take your bid for an equitable digital future seriously.

philipkglass 6y ago
I run my own site with no ads, analytics, or conscious SEO. It's nearing 20 years old now. It's significantly cheaper and easier to run now than it was when I started. The direct hosting cost is less than a standard Netflix subscription. The site still shows up on the front page of Google results for the (admittedly niche, non-commercial) topics it covers well. It still scratches the personal itch I set out to satisfy. If I wanted to make money from it, I would consider it a disaster. But I never set out to make money. I set out to discuss something that I found interesting and meet like-minded people who shared that interest. In that regard it has been a smashing success. There are still enough people like me -- writing to share their interests with the world, expecting payment only in the form of reader engagement -- that I could read their writings all day, every day and never run out. Facebook doesn't threaten my own site any more than McDonald's threatens my own cooking.

renewiltord 6y ago

That's because your art has to be significantly better than my friend's art to be worth my time. One's child's scribble > one's friend's Instagram story > a blockbuster > art from arbitrary stranger. Social proximity and art skill are both valuable to me. In the past, because of the inability to see the best in the world, we settled for that valley where someone has no social proximity and middling skill. Now I can see high fidelity zero proximity high skill whenever I want and I can see high proximity low skill whenever I want. The middling valley is no longer useful to me. Be awesome or be close. You're competing with Kanye and the people I love most.

williesleg 6y ago

I don't understand why disney has no graffiti or homeless in any of their movies. They're not real.