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Entertainment:
The entertainment sector, as an investor in human creativity, relies on identifying and cultivating talent as well as protecting its intellectual property, to produce shareholder value. Sweeping changes in how the business operates, along with new threats to the protection of its assets, have led to pessimism about the sector's prospects.
For many companies, the Internet has been seen as a scourge which threatened their intellectual property and their financial viability. Although the original Napster model was forced offline, with a new paid-for model later replacing it, the entertainment industry is fighting a continuous battle against free music swapping.
Dozens of 'me too' Napsters have emerged, using decentralised networks which are almost impossible to detect. Despite the protests and the continuous litigation, their popularity with fans increases.
As it inevitably must move towards digital models, VISION believes the entertainment sector will discover that the Internet offers potential to counter the threats it faces - the higher cost of discovering and launching new talent, the unpredictability of fans, the need not just to protect intellectual property but also to capitalise on it for commercial gain.
Spiralling costs
The business of spotting and developing talent has never been as expensive or as fickle. Artists have a shorter life span but the cost of bringing them to the attention of audiences worldwide is growing exponentially.
Previously, record labels could bet on a new artist growing in stature over a number of albums; today's fans are less loyal than those from previous generations.
New opportunities
The Napster debacle led some in the sector to be defensive and to be relatively late adopters of new digital models. Enormous, untapped opportunities exist for entertainment companies to use new technologies to create new business models.
VISION is working with companies in this sector to
- transform the business of promotion by using the amplifying nature of the Internet to leverage their special and unique access to the artists and stars
- unlock the value of intellectual property by the full application of digital asset distribution standards and the creation of integrated publishing and syndication networks
- produce new, more cost-effective ways to break talent by creating innovative, flexible ways to engage with test markets and established fans
- create efficiencies by using a sharer set of content and promotional tools on client and partner websites.
Revolutionary publishing
VISION has been a catalyst in creating a shift in understanding about how the Internet could transform businesses where intellectual property dominates the value proposition to the customer.
We were fortunate to work early with TheStreet.com, the company led by James Kramer, the celebrity financial adviser well known in the US through his successful TV programmes, public appearances and writings.
He formed TheStreet.com and harnessed the Internet in his bid to take on The Wall Street Journal and other established publishers. VISION joined this exciting team to design and develop the technology that would underpin their revolutionary publishing model. The core of the strategy was to write once and publish many times, in real-time.
VISION used much of the technologies that have since become common place - XML, content management, publishing engines - that could automatically repurpose content for the intended destination. We developed support for many user interface devices, including websites, email, pagers, Palm Pilots and more.
Multimedia publishing
By 1999 the music industry was already exploring how to use a multimedia publishing infrastructure and had begun to focus on direct promotional communication with consumers without the constraining filter of the radio stations, TV and mega-retail outlets.
VISION worked with a major US media group to create a global platform where fans can experience the music of their artists of choice. We designed and built websites that let visitors see full-length videos in their own language. We have designed and built technology that allows the promotion of music by hundreds of artists and dozens of brands - using the one, integrated global platform.
Building fast
Our early experience in the emerging Internet technologies helped us develop an infrastructure to allow websites to be built quickly for individual record labels and artists. That infrastructure facilitates link swapping and support to disperse rich media promotional content, throughout clients' network of properties and to other partners, all in pursuit of drawing more consumers to music. We produced asset management facilities to leverage all forms of intellectual property to all corners of clients' business networks.
We believe initiatives such as these are a strong indication of the future direction of the Internet - not only for the entertainment industry, but also in banking and other service-intensive industries.
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