How do you beat the content producers at their own game? By creating a new model. Kanopy is a streaming service that charges Australian libraries for content — instead of users — making for a sustainable model for distributing content locked by copyright laws. By charging government-backed entities for distribution rights, the content makers obtain the money they are after while the public has limited access to the movies they want to see making for a win-win situation.
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Free Streaming Service Challenges Existing Market
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(Score: 3, Informative) by black6host on Tuesday January 28 2020, @03:19AM (4 children)
Ok, the government pays for the content. Who pays for the government? Ain't nothing free...
(Score: 3, Informative) by petecox on Tuesday January 28 2020, @03:41AM (1 child)
Ratepayers.
Australian libraries are, generally, administered by local municipal councils - in addition to services such as community parks, rubbish collection and recycling.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 28 2020, @03:48PM
And... the reliability / predictability of the model is good for most authors.
Sure, we'd all love to be the next J.K. Rowling, but a compensation model where you have a reasonably predictable future income from the massive investment of creating novel sized content would enable more people to create content instead of asking you "you want fries with that" just to keep a roof over their heads.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 28 2020, @03:55AM (1 child)
At least, the publishers don't have enough clout to squeeze the balls of Australian govt for higher rents.
Good deal for the readers.
Another streaming service that's almost free [sbs.com.au] - has some ads, but far lower than your typical commercial public TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @10:41AM
Aussie gov always finds a way to pay higher rents, then have the consumer pay additional share, only fair to struggling corporates.
Oh and sbs has plenty of great content, but the ads are poorly placed, the service can be sketchy at times.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @03:30AM (1 child)
Lots of USAians have been reading ebooks from the library...to the point that the publishers are limiting the library licenses with time-outs, making the libraries buy more licenses, etc.
We'll see how long this lasts down in Oz...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday January 28 2020, @03:57AM
Lotsa USians pay for their health care and drugs through their nose.
We'll see how long the Aussies will avoid the same, but it's likely to be quite a long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by CheesyMoo on Tuesday January 28 2020, @05:33AM (1 child)
I have been using Kanopy in the US for a few years.The service is great, its like Netflix, but with content you actually want to watch: Criteron collection, award winners, docs, educational, rare things you don't often find in typical streaming services.
I got it for "free" from my old local library, than I moved a town over and got a second "free" sub. Its about 7 titles you can stream per month, so not quite binge-able.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure the company is based in San Francisco...
(Score: 3, Informative) by CheesyMoo on Tuesday January 28 2020, @05:36AM
By seven titles, I mean seven credits per month (1 credit per film), they have tons of content.
Oh yeah, kids content and "The Great Courses" are unlimited streams as well
(Score: 5, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday January 28 2020, @05:33AM (5 children)
The main problem in post-scarcity capitalism is how to create an artificial scarcity that justifies profits being skimmed where no actual service is being provided. I am looking at you, Elsevier, and you, Disney, and you, well, all of you corporate copyright holders. If Corporations can hold copyright, we should require them to die every 70-90 years, so their holdings can be released to public domain. If this requires that all shareholders be slain as well, I am alright with that. Many more have suffered far more for much less.
My policy has always been: Dead men (or women) do not hold copyright. Copyright should only belong to the original author, and be non-transferable. As it is, I, as any sane human, ignores the regime, and pirate and share mercilessly, because sharing is caring and the progress of the arts and sciences is more important than profits and property rights. Sosume, great sushi restaurant in Manhattan!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @11:30AM (1 child)
This is the best idea I've ever read.
In the US corporations abused their way into being declared people.
People die.
Bring it on!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by EEMac on Tuesday January 28 2020, @02:49PM
> In the US corporations abused their way into being declared people. People die.
This. 1000 times this. Corporations:
1. Can't be jailed in any meaningful sense
2. Can dissolve and reform with almost the exact same structure in place, but be considered a completely different legal entity
3. Have far more money ("speech") than any one individual
4. Have no family ties or personal connections
5. Can pay basically any fine, because someone else (customers) always pays the bill
Whatever that is, it doesn't sound like a person.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @12:50PM (2 children)
Storing masters on celluloid and magnetic tape isn't cheap, neither is transferring, remastering and transcoding them or doing rights clearance. It may be shocking to Aristarchus but many people take lower rates in favor of residuals payable when material is re-released. These are legal contracts between corporations (rights holders) and contractors. So all you actually support is corporations screwing the little guy - no surprise given your generally ill-informed, myopic and self-centered world view.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @01:56PM
My guess is that these contracts would be written in a different way if residuals no longer panned out.
(Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Tuesday January 28 2020, @04:15PM
Your attempts to flatter me will end in tears!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 28 2020, @04:03PM (2 children)
Example: Our Library could purchase 10 DVDs at $10 apiece or 1 Kanopy License for 1 Film that expires in a couple years. That'd be a cheap one, too.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @09:14PM (1 child)
Or, My Library could purchase just one DVD, rip it to a streamable digital format, and share it to millions of patrons! Technically feasible, but you say it is morally wrong? How?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 29 2020, @10:42PM
It's illegal in my jurisdiction. Feel free to do so, if you're in a place where that's not illegal. Just know that, at some point that's a slippery slope. The movie industry is huge, in part due to the fact that people can make a ton of money doing it. Without the gargantuan amount of money that can be made on a movie like Avatar, you're not going to have movies that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film) [wikipedia.org]
Even "low tech" kinds of films can costs millions of dollars. Example, Cleopatra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_(1963_film) [wikipedia.org]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"