Music as an innovation system, part 2

“It’s really easy for all of us to blame the condition of the theaters, gas prices, alternative media, the population changes and everything else I’ve heard myself say,” said Sony Pictures Vice Chairman Amy Pascal, whose summer releases “Bewitched” and “Stealth” flopped. “I think it has to do with the movies themselves.”

The LA Times is reporting that box office executives finally confess the real problem (and taking the blame). Poor box office receipts over the summer weren’t caused by piracy, for example. Piracy is illegal, yes, but the industry is interpreting the latest piracy statistics from for example trade association and lobby group Business Software Alliance (BSA) like the devil reads the Bible.

There’s more competition in the entertainment business than ever before. And it’s going to get worse.

But I think the problem is not really the lack of good movies, although the Dukes of Hazzard maybe did not satisfy the more quality thirsty audience.

Crap is hardly a new thing. Maybe the Internet has made people more aware of the problem, but do we really think that after a century people have just caught on that most movies or music suck? More likely newer technologies provide more interesting entertainment, like game consoles, online games, and other things that either weren’t around or occupied far smaller niches a couple of years ago.

The movie industry just like the music industry has to learn that sometimes falling sales isn’t due to pirates. If you release crap movies or music compilations by techno rejects, some people will not buy it no matter how much you advertise it.