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Only marginally related, but I am now thinking of what Embracer Group wrote when they bought Lord of the Rings rights last week. “I am truly excited to have Th

Only marginally related, but I am now thinking of what Embracer Group wrote when they bought Lord of the Rings rights last week. “I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group. I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio.” When I think “Tolkien”, I think “transmedia opportunities including synergies across a global group”.

tigerlily 4y ago
Yeah. Whenever I read shit like that, I just reach for the Longbottom leaf. Over time I think they’ll hit diminishing returns as peoples interest moves on to other stuff.
boilerupnc 4y ago
"At a time when intellectual-property rights power TV, movies and theme parks, three companies just lost out on the biggest property that was still out there. Disney, Netflix and Comcast Just Made a Huge Content Mistake" An assessment on the potential value of this IP. [0] https://www.thestreet.com/investing/disney-netflix-comcast-just-made-a-huge-content-mistake https://www.thestreet.com/investing/disney-netflix-comcast-j...
kmeisthax 4y ago
So, there's a counterpart to the modern definition of "content". Just as big tech needed to devalue its compliments - i.e. find the cheapest thing to put in the box next to the ads, big publishing needs to revalue its creative works. Not as culturally-significant icons or just good books, they need to be economically-exploitable owned property first and foremost. Big tech speaks of content and creators in the abstract; but big publishing commits an even worse sin: LARPing as authors of those works while talking about them purely in terms of their lucrativeness. Just like how social media turns creativity into content slurry, traditional publishing turns creativity into spectacle slurry - e.g. a string of expensive special effects strung together into an unconscionable number of movies.
JohnFen 4y ago
Nothing screams "we're going to monetize this until it's devoid of all value" like the Embracer Group's statement.

tigerlily 4y ago

Yeah. Whenever I read shit like that, I just reach for the Longbottom leaf. Over time I think they’ll hit diminishing returns as peoples interest moves on to other stuff.

boilerupnc 4y ago

"At a time when intellectual-property rights power TV, movies and theme parks, three companies just lost out on the biggest property that was still out there. Disney, Netflix and Comcast Just Made a Huge Content Mistake" An assessment on the potential value of this IP. [0] https://www.thestreet.com/investing/disney-netflix-comcast-just-made-a-huge-content-mistake https://www.thestreet.com/investing/disney-netflix-comcast-j...

kmeisthax 4y ago

So, there's a counterpart to the modern definition of "content". Just as big tech needed to devalue its compliments - i.e. find the cheapest thing to put in the box next to the ads, big publishing needs to revalue its creative works. Not as culturally-significant icons or just good books, they need to be economically-exploitable owned property first and foremost. Big tech speaks of content and creators in the abstract; but big publishing commits an even worse sin: LARPing as authors of those works while talking about them purely in terms of their lucrativeness. Just like how social media turns creativity into content slurry, traditional publishing turns creativity into spectacle slurry - e.g. a string of expensive special effects strung together into an unconscionable number of movies.

JohnFen 4y ago

Nothing screams "we're going to monetize this until it's devoid of all value" like the Embracer Group's statement.