| It seems like there might be a periodic sine wave for media consumption, with price on the Y axis. When we sit at the trough, DRM is heavy-handed and media is expensive to purchase or rent. Piracy is the best option for most consumers. Then some enterprising people pitch the media companies on a way to implement some hurdle pricing to jumpstart their moribund sales. Presented with an easy cheap way to pay for legal access to entertainment, people jump on board. As money starts to roll in, the business types start to eye vertical integration. The upstarts see the writing on the wall and try to find a way out. Prices rise, but the content is still easy to access. Now the rightsholders start to rein in their former partners, and implement their own solutions. These are terrible and myriad. Costs spiral, while the consumers are spoiled for choice. Decision fatigue sets in. People find their niches, cut coupons, and share esclusive releases between family and friends. Eventually the fragmentation becomes exhausting, and only the most line-toeing consumers bother to jump through the hoops necessary to pay for many kinds of content. Back to square one. |