Big Content: Ice Harvesters of the 21st Century

I’m going to talk a little bit more about copyright and Big Content this week. By “Big Content”, I am referring to the corporations that produce movies, televisions, records,

books and even web sites. I thought I’d start by

introducing something that “copyfighters” (those who fight for better

copyright laws and against bad business practices that use copyright as a stick to beat more money out of customers) often talk about: business models. You will often hear a copyfighter

refer to how a Big Content company or cartel will often use copyright

as a means of protecting an outdated business model. Before I talk

about Big Content’s outdated business models, let’s look at a business

model that’s already extinct as a result of technological improvements: Big Ice.

I’ll let one of my role models (especially given my line of work), former Apple evangelist Guy Kawaski do the talking for this one. Years ago, he made a high school commencement address titled Hindsight, a “top ten list” of

advice to the graduating class. Item number eight was “Challenge the known and embrace the

unknown”. It went like this:

One of

the biggest mistakes you can make in life is to accept the known and resist the

unknown. You should, in fact, do exactly the opposite: challenge the known and

embrace the unknown.

Let me tell you a short story about ice. In the late

1800s there was a thriving ice industry in the Northeast. Companies would cut

blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds and sell them around the world. The

largest single shipment was 200 tons that was shipped to India. 100 tons got

there unmelted, but this was enough to make a profit.

These ice harvesters,

however, were put out of business by companies that invented mechanical ice

makers. It was no longer necessary to cut and ship ice because companies could

make it in any city during any season. These ice makers, however, were put out

of business by refrigerator companies. If it was convenient to make ice at a

manufacturing plant, imagine how much better it was to make ice and create cold

storage in everyone’s home.

You would think that the ice harvesters would

see the advantages of ice making and adopt this technology. However, all they

could think about was the known: better saws, better storage, better

transportation. Then you would think that the ice makers would see the

advantages of refrigerators and adopt this technology. The truth is that the ice

harvesters couldn’t embrace the unknown and jump their curve to the next curve.

Challenge the known and embrace the unknown, or you’ll be like the ice

harvester and ice makers.

Can

you imagine what things would be like today if the ice harvesters

managed to lobby the government into restricting the activities of the

icebox manufacturers and later on, the refrigerator manufacturers?

That’s exactly what Big Content would like to do to the high-tech

industry.

More on this topic later.