Thread: E-Books, iPad, Publishers and Collusion

Originally Posted by Alundil

One of the attorneys (legal expert/scholar) pointed out in another article on CNET (paraphrasing) "...when competitors begin to meet and discuss "things" without their attorneys it doesn't look very good."

It sure doesn't, but as far as I can tell a fair amount of business gets done that way. If the CEOs of all the major US petroleum or telecom companies got together for private talks, then that would be very damning. So much so that they never do that - with or without lawyers.

But having a computer company CEO talk with the CEO of a publishing house is less of a concern. Don't get me wrong, vertical integration can be as anti-competitive as horizontal. But these are brand new markets.

I think their deal with Apple was a desperation deal to try and get back enough market power to prevent their total collapse. Amazon was eating them alive.

If Apple and the publishers get slapped around by the DOJ, I guess that's the way it goes. What worries me is the DRM. It used to be that if you bought a book, it was yours. With Apple, Amazon, B&N, etc., they're all building market power that reaches into the future. They call it "an ecosystem", but what it means is that the existence of your library is tied to the existence of the company. At this point in the ebook market, none of these companies is seeking profit. They're seeking control.

And fuck that. If it ever gets to the point where I'm sending money to any of these companies for DRM'd reading material, it will be because I view the product as completely disposable (like a newspaper). I never even considered the iTunes music store until after it was free of DRM, because (for me) recorded music isn't disposable. If they want to curate my collection for me, well that's just fine. But unless I have the option to store it on hardware I control, it's just a bait-and-switch power play.

I don't trust Apple; but in new media they are (so far) the only major company that has worked to free-up the content. That weakens the market power of content owners, and improves Apple's position (I don't think they're altruists).

So to me, the DOJ seems to be missing the real point. If all their lawsuits do is sort out which few companies control the market in the future, then there's no point to it at all.

Originally Posted by Alundil

It matters less whether Apple is vindicated in court, or that the DOJ can't prove collusion in the court room or that Amazon gains back lost market share. What matters is that the consumers gain and the content creators gain.

I don't ascribe to the idea that the old publishing model was the best for the authors or the consumers. It was designed to benefit the publishers first and foremost. I can understand why that was the case too. They were the ones risking capital (materials and brick and mortar facilities) to publish. That is less and less the case in the digital world. For them to pretend otherwise is disingenuous. In fact we're seeing exactly this in the music world with several top selling artists deciding to go it alone and act as their own distributors.

That's pretty much how I feel too.

For music, I went through a shift in my consumption habits starting in the mid-90s. I spent less money on recorded music and more money on live music. Seeing talented performers in small- and medium-sized venues is the best. I was spending more money overall, and a much larger percentage of my spending went to the musicians. Those were nice side effects.

I have a friend who is an author. The stories he has of dealing with publishers are surreal, and he was screwed as hard as any new musician or author. Lots of good ones to tell, but one sticks out here. When he needs more copies of his books to sell or sign at readings, he never asks his publisher. He tracks prices of his books on Amazon daily. Every now and then, they dip quite low - and he buys up whatever is super-cheap. He can then turn around and sell them at his readings for cheaper than the normal Amazon price and still make a much bigger margin than he gets as a royalty from selling one the "normal" way.

Consider how fucked up that is: he can often get new copies of his books cheaper on Amazon than he can get them from his own publisher.

Cheers,


AetheLove