MPAA And The Laws Of Nature

This one is going to go into the Quote Note file. Apparently the MPAA's Dan Glickman in a debate with The Grateful Dead's John Perry Barlow about the future of media and the Internet says "It is ridiculous to believe that you can give product away for free and be more successful. I mean it defies the laws of nature." 

Ok, let's for a moment grant Mr. Glickman some slack for thinking that the laws of nature and business have anything to do with one another. Ok, moment passed, moving on.

I love when arrogance rears its head as stupidity. I know it is difficult to see a clear path to a new business model when you've got all that money pouring in and of course you feel threatened when someone takes it away with a method that could be better, and you're worried that the lawmakers you've bought off to protect your flanks might be getting a little antsy. Mike at Techdirt (where I picked this up) says that Glickman has incorrrectly defined his market. Bingo! Hollywood hasn't been about creating content for a long while now. Hollywood is about content like McDonald's is about burgers like the Cubs are about baseball. It's all about marketing baby.

And if marketing is partially about building a brand and customer loyalty I think The Grateful Dead seemed to play more than a few chords right.