Andreesen has a good blog post on the whole writers strike in Hollywood, and I mostly agree with him. It's pretty staggering how the big media companies simply refuse to get it.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to me is that the concept of the blockbuster slam dunk hit is starting to fade. I'm not saying it will ever go away, but I am saying that it's not something to build a business around. Hollywood and the music industry are learning what those of us with niche content sites have known for at least a decade: The Internet decentralizes power. Anyone can win, and even making a couple grand a year is considered a win if it's in line with your expectations.
I'm glad to see the music industry fail because they've been schlepping crap at us for quite awhile now. Social media and iTunes have helped us get new and interesting stuff we might not have been exposed to, but the record companies have been fighting it instead of figuring out the best way to monetize it, and let the f'ing hit model go away.
Hollywood has actually done a better job in producing entertainment, and a lot of it has real artistic value in my opinion. But they're playing these asinine games too with the HD disc format war and resistance to digital distribution. Oh, and of course, pointless DRM that only gets in the way of legitimate use. They're losing power as people go do other things, including waste time watching crap on YouTube.
Meanwhile, sites like mine that cater to a niche audience have been eroding mainstream media, especially in the print space, for years. It's because we have the power to deliver what the audience wants, and we're essentially on equal footing with everyone else, big and small. How kick ass is that?
I totally side with the writers in the strike. Four cents on a DVD? Are you kidding me? Your flick sells a million DVD's and you make $40k? That's lame, especially since the retailer itself gets more of the remaining $19.96 (or more). When writers and directors start saying en masse, "Fuck you!" to the studios, and start figuring out their own distribution models, then what?
I liken the whole thing to self publishing a book. I got all of two bucks for every copy of my book sold, and that was on the very high end of royalty ranges. I'd have to sell 5,000 copies to make $10k. By comparison, I could self-publish on LuLu.com and sell 450 copies and get to the same place. Sure, I don't have the marketing muscle of the publisher, but I own the content and I can explore other avenues or adjust the pricing. I win.
Very exciting times to publish content, and I honestly believe that there is more opportunity, even if it's less likely there is a huge hit potential.
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