Streaming, Sharing, Stealing Book Summary - Streaming, Sharing, Stealing Book explained in key points

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Streaming, Sharing, Stealing summary

Name: Streaming, Sharing, Stealing
Rating: 3.6 (28 reviews)
Author: Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang

Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang

Big Data and the Future of Entertainment

3.6 (28 ratings)

17 mins

Table of Contents

Streaming, Sharing, Stealing
summarized in 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Learn how technology has disrupted the entertainment industry.

In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy after dominating the film and photographic industry for most of the twentieth century. The former corporate behemoth had failed to adapt to the new digital photography trend. Although Kodak had been aware of the seismic shift and even developed their own digital photography technology, they were afraid of cannibalizing their successful analog film business. As a result, they never gained a footing in the new market and quickly dwindled.

There were no more Kodak moments.

The moral of this story is that failing to adapt to new technology can be dangerous. During the last decade, many major players in the entertainment industry have failed to heed this warning. And many have seen themselves outrun by tech-savvy startups. So, how have these new companies managed to wrestle power away from the big players? These blinks explain.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

what six major music executives called “shit” in 1997;
why over half a million people binge-watched the first season of House of Cards; and
what piracy did to the Indian movie industry.

Technology has changed the power dynamics of the entertainment industry.

A while ago, CDs were widely used to play music. Nowadays, you rarely see them, save for a small minority who collect them for nostalgic purposes.

What led to their demise? Big players in the music industry ignored the potential of digital music, which allowed companies such as Apple, Pandora and Spotify to emerge and kill off the CD.

In 2003, AT&T was the first company to attempt to introduce digital downloads with its division A2B Music. Its cofounders pitched the concept to top music executives but they were met with ridicule, as growing CD sales were creating so much revenue. A2B Music quickly dissolved, but in the early 2000s, companies like Apple began to flourish using the same technology.

Soon, digital music became popular, and CDs became irrelevant.

Encyclopedia Britannica suffered a similar fate. In 1985, Microsoft requested non-exclusive rights to the company so they could digitize the contents of its encyclopedias. Personal computers were growing in popularity at this time, but the print-based business wasn’t convinced. The repercussions of this decision would be felt in 1993; that year, Microsoft created a multimedia encyclopedia called Encarta, and sales of print encyclopedias plummeted by $110 million as a result.

A modern-day company which harnesses the power of technology, is Netflix. It uses data analytics to truly customize the user experience. Formerly, production companies created pilot episodes of new shows and aired them to network executives. If the pilot received a positive response, the network requested more episodes – if not, the show was rejected.

When the creators of House of Cards pitched their show to Netflix, the company ordered two seasons for $100 million without seeing the pilot. The Netflix team had thoroughly analyzed their user data and knew House of Cards would be a hit with their audience. The show’s creators were further incentivized to exclusively release both seasons on Netflix because, as a digital platform, it didn’t have the same airtime limitations as TV networks.

New technology gives artists creative freedom, reduces content creation costs, and offers consumers flexibility.

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.

Companies capture new markets by sensing opportunities early and moving in quickly.

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.

For a while, big companies tightly controlled the distribution of entertainment.

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.

Publishing platforms draw in consumers by providing online access to niche products.

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.

Data-driven processes allow publishers to create more effective marketing campaigns.

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.

Piracy harms producers and consumers, but the issue can be prevented.

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.

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What is Streaming, Sharing, Stealing about?

Streaming, Sharing, Stealing (2016) is about the ever-changing entertainment industry. Recent years have seen the emergence of new players who continue to utilize technology to transform the landscape. This book assesses how companies like Apple, Netflix and Amazon use data to understand their consumers’ needs.

Best quote from Streaming, Sharing, Stealing

Facebook averages a thousand A/B tests every day.

—Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang

Who should read Streaming, Sharing, Stealing?

Publishers and policy makers
Technology enthusiasts interested in big data and analytics
Media, film and music students

About the Author

Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang are professors at the Tepper School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University, where they co-direct the Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics. Over the course of their careers, they’ve been interviewed by Forbes, NPR and Fortune, and have featured on Talks at Google.

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