Photo by : Nati

The way that people are engaging media is changing and the change did not happen overnight. With the advancement of the internet, the ways people obtain the music that they listen to, the books that they read, the shows that they watch and the games that they play have undergone changes that many major media industries were not prepared for.

However, being unprepared is no excuse to continue being in denial of the changing world. Do the industries think that their businesses are so formidable that they should put their ancient business models ahead of the very people who made their industries a success? When faced with changes brought about by the advancement of technology, major players of the media industries are still hanging on to their customs, insisting that their ways are right and should be followed for all time.

Music is easily sent and shared over the internet in the form of mp3s. Movies and popular tv shows are being recorded in high quality formats and being shared increasingly over the internet whether they be downloaded as huge files or streamed over the web with some sacrifice in quality. Books, comics and manga are being scanned and distributed online as ebooks. Games are being ripped and shared. So are other mainstream softwares.

Opportunities abound.

It is high time for the media industry to rethink their strategy and rethink their business models. After all, a business serves its customers. And if the customers disagree with the business’s pricing models but agree the business has a great product, is the company going to clamp down on these people, sue them and make them pay?

Is there a better way to resolve the situation? Will the media industries let go of their customary pricing models and monetization methods? As media industries still stubbornly hang on to their old customs, many opportunities surface for smaller companies to reach out to the masses, understand their behaviour and churn out revolutionary means for the masses to engage media without the hassle of the current legislation system.