Comments on: Sony Pictures CEO hates the Internet

Instead of embracing new ways of delivering content, entertainment exec Michael Lynton thinks this whole Internet thing has brought nothing good.

[infinitely]

It's called competition and capitalism. If people aren't willing to pay your prices, you reduce them. If you can't make money, you go out of business.

[ripragged]

Funny post. The RIAA and the record companies could have gotten ahead of the curve on digital music but they didn't. It's everybody's fault but theirs that they sat on their hands complacently watching technology leave them behind.

The funniest part is that although they're speed bumps right now, the road around the RIAA has already been built and the record companies won't even matter in a couple of years.

Oh, well. It must have been fun while it lasted.

[ewelch]

This just in. Big business doesn't like democracy, longs for the good old days before the Magna Carta.

[mikedrud]

I don't think the CEO is completely off, though. Their are artists' rights issues and piracy issues and monitoring for security violations and other nefarious acts. I love the Web myself and am not afraid of it; but I do see SOME regulation (such as the WWW standards) as important. It's how civilization works. Even Tim Berners-Lee knew that.

[ralfthedog]

The key to stopping piracy is to stop spending money on signed bands. If you want music, find a local band that does not have DRM garbage and does not try to restrict the way you listen to their songs. When you find the bands that you like, buy all the CD's they put out. Get copies for your friends. Get copies for your friends friends.

Keep an eye out for indi film makers. The market is young however it is growing fast. Many people have equivalent talent to the writers and directors that work for the big studios. With just a few thousand dollars they can produce very good work. Soon they will be very competitive with the big boys. I see no future for the members of the RIAA or the MPAA. Long live the unaligned artist!.

[benjwah]

As an artist, I'll tell you for sure, they're not protecting artists in any way at all. They're middlemen in a business that doesn't need middlemen anymore, and that's why the fuss is raised.

[BlutoNYC]

It's obvious that Michael Lynton doesn't get it and should step down. He's a yesterday CEO and Sony Pictures needs someone new who understands the concepts of tomorrow's world... a world of an interconnected network of individuals, companies, schools and countries sharing information and contents back and forth... kinda like.... THE INTERNET!!!! DUH!!!! The sad thing that there are tons of companies out there, public and private, that are being run by people like Lynton... We just have to wait for all of them to eventually die so the world can evolve into a better place.

[Altotus]

It is clear that ignorance and bad attitude resulted in a the loss of opportunity. Michael Lynton the people you hate could have been customers. Sony is fated to destruction for lack of insight. You have failed to study the lesson of history perhaps fear of change is to great for executives. I would hire new blood all together if my money was riding on the shoulders of men who fear change, cannot adapt and hate the customers..

[ericyen]

Having been there at Sony . . . it was tough to see such a great company turn and go the wrong way. I don't know what happened . . . the change in leadership . . . the lost of direction . . . the lost of seeing AND creating the future. The spirit of Sony (and Akio Morita) was somehow was lost.

[ofmyony]

An Idea for Sony

Make better products, cut prices, use open standards. Oh and embrace the internet. Or you can shut down and give United States companies all your business. I am sure GE wont mind

[Havoc70]

Hey Sony,

WANT SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE ?

[Brien Draper]

I completely understand Mr. Lynton's take on this. The internet has taken millions of dollars from a multitude of industries. Including the music industry. It may be the hardest one hit. Even though there are positives through the use of the internet there are probably more negatives including porn, identity theft and scams that are changing everything we do and how we act. Why doesn't anyone have the ability to understand why Sony lost money with the wide spread sharing of music and movies illegally. Bands don't make the same money anymore either. Everything has changed and will continue to change and not always in a possitive way. Fighting piracy throughout the planet costs multi-billions in lost revenue. Everyone knows this. Everyone except you Mr. Dave Rosenberg. Why is that?

[ralfthedog]

The organization most responsible for ripping off artists is the RIAA. They charge for Studio time the artist does not need (If you get it the first take, run up another 20. Lets charge $20,000 an hour for the time, then pay the studio tech about $20 for the work while we are at it.). They charge for marketing the artist does not need (Lets all take a cruse, see how much coke we can use in 7 days then call it promotion.) They charge a big percentage of everything the band makes on tour (Lets charge 90% of what the band makes because we called up the venue and booked a date. Lets pay using the bands money, then bill them for the fact that we used the bands money. While we are at it, lets charge the band $40 and hour for each of the roadies then pay them minimum wage.)

If you want to stop people from stealing from artists, put the RIAA in prison.

[infinitely]

EXACTLY ralfthedog. Anyone who defends the RIAA is either on their payroll, clueless to how they rip off the artists, or WANTS the artists to make as little money as possible. Which is it Brien?

[eswinson]

But it didn't take millions of dollars in "value" from those industries. Where is the loss exactly. Is hollywood not turning our record breaking box office hits? Are musicians not getting paid obscene salaries for very little creative effort? Legal music sales by most calculations have increased. What this industry is at odds with is the fact they they are not getting the margins they once were on what is selling and that they think every pirate download was a sale they could have made money on.

If you want to read something interesting take a look at the arguments Sony gave in favor of the BetaMAX recorder during those trials and hearings.

The reality is that we will keep having these debates long after these companies and their associations are dinosaurs, and there will still be good music and good movies for us to enjoy as long as their is good talent in the world to make them, and they will be compensated accordingly. I say bring back the days when even the most successful stars lived middle class lives in the suburbs and produced far superior works. But cut out the middle man that was taking the millions off the top.

I personally don't care if Sony makes a dollar or loses a billion or goes bankrupt (other than the fact that I will wonder who will honor the warranty on my TV.) Sony is not even responsible for producing or funding much of the work in their library. They are only trying to monetize it after buying the rights. I have no obligation to support their business model. My only obligation is to legally obtain the content I wish to use. Piracy is not their biggest issue. People not buying Michael Jackson albums because he is a pedophile probably has a bigger impact on sales than some 14 year old downloading songs through LimeWire that he probably doesn't have the money to buy anyway.

As far as fighting piracy goes. The fighting does not result in any lost revenue except lost sales thorough the backlash over strict DRM. It may eat into profits but revenue is revenue. What stupid things a company decides to do with it after it is earned is up to them. If a company or industry as a whole wants to fight a losing battle simply in the name of some higher glory maybe they can talk to Custar or Napoleon for advice.

[Aquatroni1965]

It's because of people like this that we have so many laws in this country. I don't mean to be supercritical, but he probably isn't very computer literate, and that's why he hates technology and the internet. Imposing "Speed limits" on the internet would just add to the myriad of laws we must obey in this country to live allegedly "free".
Sometimes I think the only thing "free" about the United States is the freedom to propose any law that fits the whim of whatever politician is thinking about it at the time.
Sad.

[infinitely]

And whoever has enough money to lobby them. Don't forget that!

[leovarg]

we have the sense of , actually paying for content! when we pay for Internet connection, and we think we are paying for everything is on it. so the day that Internet connection is free, I think that day we will begin to pay for content, or to pay more attention to the adds

[leovarg]

Another thought .. when they talk about the future of pay content and the future of news papers! they talk about the only advantage of moving digital content to the internet is that the delivery content cost is kinda iqual to 0 ,
so that's true for them But we are actually paying for load their pages! and we pay a lot! I personally pay 50 bucks per month for that. so as i said the day we don't pay for internet connection, we will comfortable paying for content

[infinitely]

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. If you like music, pay for it. Artists don't make money off your internet connection for God's sake.
[CNET editor's comment: Profanity deleted.]

[leovarg]

Ok read this NY times article and tell me who is the stupid, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/business/media/18iht-cache18.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

[leovarg]

......If all of this were bundled into a contract with an Internet service provider or subsidized by Google?s search ads, it would be an even easier sell. And then, the Internet of the future would look a lot like the free Internet of today ? with a slightly different division of the spoils.
By ERIC PFANNER
Published: May 17, 2009 NYtimes
u Idiot!

[stockyjoe]

A lot of CEO's including Sony's don't get the "culture" of the internet. They are stupid to ignore it and Sony is dealing with the pain. Sony could very well take back a lot of their market if they would do one thing. QUIT making proprietary devices. Just design a good device that supports the features people want and IT will sell. You want to beat Apple?Make an MP3 player that is not stuck to proprietary technology, that supports open formats (FLAC, OGG, MP3 etc) and remove the need for the middleware. Heck you'd outsell Apple. That was always Sony's fault and that has nothing to do with the internet.

[justasking99]

Sony electronic devices used to be my top choice. I had brand loyalty. The business was theirs to lose. That was until Sony started filing lawsuits against file sharers. I have never considered, yet alone bought Sony equipment since then. I have bought laptops, TVs, digital cameras, etc. Most would have been Sony no questions asked. I am boycotting all Sony products until:
1. Sony issues a sincere apology to those they have sued.
2. Sony repays, with additional compensatory damages, all those that have been victimized by their legal shakedown scheme.
I am not the only one who feels and acts this way. Remember, swordsmanship means chivalry. Sony was once strong, but will not be strong forever.

[axemaster20]

"They say, 'Give it to me now,' and if you don't give it to them for free, they'll steal it.""

It's true. They do steal it.

[ssguptainc]

Necessary for Sony to give a real hard kick on his hind side.

[js.matrix]

Wishing / hoping the internet will go away is like hoping automobiles will go away so that we can revive horseback traffic. The strong survive, the weak go asunder. If a company can not change business models with changing times and conditions, it's their own fault. Pan American is no longer around. Once upon a time the world's greatest international carrier. What went wrong? Good article, Dave! Take some of the negative comments with a grain of salt. Especially the idiot who complained and about having 25 seconds of his life wasted. And yet, nobody asked him, nor forced him, to offer his two-cents of unproductive input.

[trooperbill]

Hes just mad because fior the first time we can fully vet their product before deciding to buy it. I for one welcome the internet as a way of providing quality control back into the customers hands.

i watched the pre release of wolverine streaming from a site and decided that its not worth the money, when the reviews came out, i was right, i paid to see state of play without seeing it online and wish i could have had my money refunded because it was truely aweful however i also watched iron man streaming on the net and later went to the cinema and paid for the dvd.

its all true that because they didnt adpot the technology early enough that theyre now the losers and fighting it will just make things worse.

i'd pay £10 per month to download unlimited albums and moves as would everyone i expect. but theyd have to release them globally at the same time. i suspect thta business model would make them richer than ever.

a second point is that despite their claims in the pirate bay trial, hasnt the recording industry made record profits in 2008?

[js.matrix]

Wishing / hoping the internet will go away is like hoping automobiles will go away so that we can revive horseback traffic. The strong survive, the weak go asunder. If a company can not change business models with changing times and conditions, it's their own fault. Pan American is no longer around. Once upon a time the world's greatest international carrier. What went wrong? Good article, Dave! Take some of the negative comments with a grain of salt. Especially the idiot who complained and about having 25 seconds of his life wasted. And yet, nobody asked him, nor forced him, to offer his two-cents of unproductive input.