Streaming, Sharing, Stealing summary

In the past, only a few companies had the money to create content and facilitate new artists. If you were a creative, your vision was determined by the entity in control of the budget.

However, newbies like Netflix have given artists and directors free rein.

The entertainment business is constantly changing, so the real challenge for industry leaders is to perceive these shifts at the right time, understand their scale and respond effectively.

The story of Thomas Edison and his musical invention is a prime example of a businessman failing to comprehend an evolving market.

Today, the entertainment industry is more diverse – small companies exist alongside bigger businesses and still have a broad reach. However, this wasn’t always the case.

Throughout the twentieth century, a handful of companies used their economic power and size to dominate the industry. During the 1950s, radio was essential to the music scene. In exchange for airtime for their artists, big labels would promise radio stations perks like backstage access, free concert tickets and various freebies. Smaller labels didn’t have the ability to do this.

There’s a limited edition vinyl that was pressed in the 1980s that you’re desperate to add to your collection. In the age prior to the internet, you’d have to put in considerable hours to source such rare or less popular titles. Now, of course, it’s much easier to both access and download records, books and other works online.

In fact, it seems that the more obscure, the better. Unconventional artists tend to attract large, loyal audiences, and people are willing to pay small fortunes for rare titles. One of the authors of Streaming, Sharing, Stealing was prepared to do this while on the hunt for a 30-year-old pharmaceutical book. He was struggling to locate the book in a physical store, but by doing a quick search on Alibris – an online store for new, old and out-of-print titles – he was able to track down a copy. The book was his for $20, though he’d have been willing to pay more. When it arrived, $0.75 was written inside the front cover; the book had been sitting in a bookshop for years without attracting a single customer.

For a while, companies relied on good old intuition to determine which content would appeal to certain audiences. However, it’s since been discovered that companies which utilize their customer data make better creative decisions.

By making use of big data, a company can bolster its marketing efforts. The app-based company Shazam is a prime example of this. The business works by allowing users to identify any track they hear. As it performs millions of searches each day, it’s built a competitive advantage by documenting all of this information.

It’s no secret that the advent of the internet brought several benefits. However, one downside of this technological feat is the proliferation of piracy – but there are ways to curtail it.

Piracy is so detrimental because it allows consumers to receive content without paying. In 2015, the authors of Streaming, Sharing, Stealing presented a paper about the issue to the World Intellectual Property Organization. To compile this document, they surveyed all the peer-reviewed journal articles they could find that discussed the effect of piracy on sales. Of the 25 articles they unearthed, 22 reported instances in which piracy had significantly harmed sales.