Gerd Leonhard’s book ‘the Future of Content’ is exactly about what the title implies: the future of content including music, film, TV, books, newspapers, games etc. The book addresses the topic of what the shift from physical to digital media means to those working in content industries through a collection of Leonhard’s essays and blog posts over the past 10 years.
The book covers several policy issues around the topic. ‘The top five’ of these are:
* the Future of Content in a Connected Economy;
* the Future of Content: Protection is in the Business Model – Not in Technology;
* Content: The Past & the Future – we must challenge our assumptions;
* Mobile Broadband is set to explode – so what happens to Content Creators?; and
* 8 Key Trends and some Foresight for the next 5 Years.
The Future of Content in a Connected Economy puts forward the question of how we can make money with content when ‘the copy‘ of the content is free and ubiquitously available (both legally and illegally). Leonhard argues that there needs to be trust between parties and that content needs to be complemented with other things that are sold around the content, e.g. context, community, convenience and connectivity – similar to the iPad. The policy insight is that selling access online will be much more profitable than selling physical copies of the content on a long run and that one should not compete with free products but rather with value, meaning, relevance, trust and packaging.
The Future of Content: Protection is in the Business Model – Not in Technology looks in detail at not selling copies of a product but rather charging. E-books and streaming-on-demand music are given as examples of how a client should buy much more than just the content itself, e.g. in the case of e- books, the buyer would also receive commentary on the book, ratings, images and so on, or they could have direct interaction with the author or the publisher. This way, the content could be sold at a lower price, yet profit can still be made. Other tricks could be charges minimal amounts for sharing content, e.g. when forwarding an e-book or song to a friend. Lowering prices for the good of everyone, using platforms that work for all everywhere and packaging content attractively are deemed the most effective ways forward.
Content: The Past & the Future – We Must Challenge Our Assumptions gives more insight into the issue of trust. Leonhard proposes that control and domination are being replaced by attention, trust and engagement. Such proposals are based on the fact that the internet has completely changed the content industry, making it even more crucial for us to question our assumptions.
Mobile Broadband is set to explode – so what happens to Content Creators? touches on the exploding use of the internet and how more and more people are accessing the world- wide web via their phones and laptops throughout the day. Supposing that the predicted expansion of mobile broadband usage will reach its peak of 2 billion in 2012, what will happen to all the content found via the internet? According to Leonhard, the only way forward is to equate network access with content access. In other words, once you get connected, much of the content usage is included. Leonhard proposes that, in this case, revenues would be generated through advertising, bundles and sponsored access flat-rates.
8 Key Trends and some Foresight for the next 5 Years summarises the book by providing eight key trends and foresight for the future of content. The proposed trends range from fast-spreading netbook-type devices to rather radical ideas of having to pay when one goes off-line and travelling in virtual space rather than physically moving from place to place.
The Future of Content is likely to be of interest to anyone working in the content industry or otherwise taking an interest in such issues. The book provides one with food for thought on the topic, as well as with intriguing policy insights that could be used as guidance within the content industry.
The book links and further details are at ”The Future of Content”
Book review: ‘The Future of Content’ by Gerd Leonard
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