Books, magazines, newspapers, musicians, and movie-makers must all learn to live in the new world order of the internet. All of the key players must abandon the old ways and learn the new. Book publishers may be in the best position of the crowd, due to the public domain.
Book publishers, magazine publishers, newspaper publishers, recording labels, and film studios all face the same problems of the internet: it is easy to copy a digital good. The news web sites and blogs are awash in articles about the downward trend in revenues, the upward trend in piracy, and the imminent collapse of their business models. And for a number of specific publishers (I'm using the larger definition that includes all media) the demise is indeed imminent. But not all; some will figure out the rules of the brave new world. (Just which ones, though, is a matter that must wait until we arrive in the new world.)
Of the media, book publishers have an advantage: the public domain. Or rather, a collection of works that is in the public domain. There is a large number of books that are available for free -- that is without the encumbrance of copyright. These works were published some time ago and have fallen "out of copyright". Books such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Alice in Wonderland".
Such a collection is useful to book publishers and the makers of e-book readers. E-reader makers can use this collection as an enticement, in fact the Kobo reader comes with one hundred such classics.
Book publishers can use the collection too, indirectly. They can let the e-reader makers include this collection and train the customers in the use of e-book formats. Rather than buying a single copy of a book and passing it on to friends, a customer can become accustomed to downloading books to their personal device. From there it is a small matter of paying a modest fee (and the modesty and reasonableness of the fee is important) for a current book. This gives the publishers a business model.
Other media lack this collection of free works. The music industry has been quite good at keeping all of its works in copyright; consequently they have no free collection to use for training customers. Everything must be purchased: every song or collection must have money transacted. By being grabby the recording industry and the movie industry have gained in the short term but are losing in the long term.
The book industry is making gains with the e-readers such as the Kindle and the Nook. These gains are due in part to the free collection of materials. Good materials. If the music and film industries want to make similar gains with customers, they may have to consider a similar strategy. Sadly, I think that they will be unable to do so. They will cling tightly to every work in their collection, demanding payment for every use, every viewing, and every excerpt. And they may pay the price for making customers pay the price.
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