Digital Media

AUSTIN, Texas--IMDb founder Col Needham said the massively popular movie database has set as its major goal for the future to add one-button streaming for all of the 1.3 million titles it indexes.

Obviously, the vision is a long-term one, Needham acknowledged, and it faces hurdles from the slew of content owners who control the vast library of titles the Internet Movie Database provides information about, but as a leading movie-oriented site, it's a very important goal to articulate in public.

Needham was speaking Monday afternoon at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival here. Oddly, though his talk was part of the film festival, the room was packed almost entirely by attendees of the associated SXSW Interactive Festival.

Speaking at SXSW on Monday, IMDb founder Col Needham said the site hopes to eventually offer streaming at the push of a button for all of the 1.3 million titles in its database. Clearly, this vision will take some time to come to fruition.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Ostensibly, Needham was talking about the history of IMDb--from its founding even before the advent of the World Wide Web, to its launch as a dot-com site to its being bought by Amazon.com. But late in the talk, he explained how he wants to make it possible for the 57 million monthly unique visitors to the site to watch, with the click of one button, all the movies, TV shows, and other video content indexed on the site.

It will be difficult to fulfill the vision, Needham said, "because many of the films may not exist anymore and many may not be available for streaming."

But these days, free or paid streaming of movies is available from a number of sources, including: Netflix, Hulu, TV.com (a part of CBS Interactive, which publishes CNET News), Amazon, iTunes, and others. Each of those sources, though, has its own arrangement with the content owners, so for IMDb to get access to the entire library would be a massive undertaking.

Still, rather than being a throw-away line that didn't carry any weight, Needham reiterated at the end of the talk that the vision was one of the company's major goals for 2009 and beyond.

Already, IMDb has begun adding streaming content to the site, a program that began in September. Right now, Needham said, there are 14,000 full-length TV episodes and a couple of thousand full-length movies available on the site, as well as 120,000 other pieces of video content, many of which are movie trailers, interviews, and featurettes.

And he said that the site is adding thousands of new pieces of video content per week.

At that rate, however, it's sure to take the site quite some time to achieve the goal. Needham said he imagined a time three years from now when we will all look back at early 2009, when so many media sites are trying to solve the problem of making content available to those who want it in the face of resistance from the Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association of America, and we'll shake our heads at where we were at.

"We'll laugh at how little we knew about what business models would work," Needham said.

Guess what isn't super-sized? Digital distribution revenues for filmmakers, apparently.

AUSTIN, Texas--The Internet and the rise of online video have meant a plethora of new options for independent filmmakers. But, as has been well-publicized, the money just isn't there yet. A panel at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival on Monday highlighted that this is an extremely contentious issue.

"Digital distribution is not some magic bullet," said panelist Gary Hustwit on the success of his documentary "Helvetica," in front of a packed room of audience members that came from both SXSWi and its sister festival, SXSW Film. "It's not that because the film is available digitally it does well. It's because you do the work...because of that exposure, it did well."

In spite of widespread blog speculation that DVDs are dying and that digital downloads and streams will replace the physical medium in due time, filmmakers say that from the creative side, relying on these outlets--iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, Joost, and SnagFilms, represented on the panel by CEO Rick Allen--simply is not profitable yet. In fact, in many cases, sales and revenue numbers are kept on the down-low.

Morgan Spurlock, the documentarian behind "Super Size Me" and "Where In The World Is Osama bin Laden?," put it bluntly. "The reason numbers aren't released (for digital distribution revenues) is because the numbers are pathetic," he said. "The numbers are sadly low in comparison to what we expect from film and television."

"If you're looking to pay your rent, not so much, if you're looking to pay your phone bill, you have a great chance," Spurlock continued. "It's getting to a point where it's down the road from being profitable, but we're just not at that point yet."

The panelists disagreed over whether the best digital distribution strategy is to get a film on as many platforms as possible or to be strategic in the hopes of making more money.

Matt Dentler of digital representation group Cinetic Rights Management argued for the be-everywhere model. "We are a direct aggregator to, I would say, about a dozen portals in the U.S., and we just closed our first couple of deals in Europe." Dentler said that Cinetic's films go to YouTube, Hulu, iTunes, SnagFilms, and quite a few others. "We're probably going to have about five to ten more in Europe over the next few months...what this touches on is there are so many freaking options out there for consumers that you kind of have to provide all of them."

But Steve Savage, president of distributor New Video, disagreed. "It's good to be agnostic, and I think it's a good way to put everything out there and see what sticks but there's also other ways to do it," he asserted, "to be really strategic, to find where the money is."

The panelists seemed to agree that, as so many people have said before, digital revenues are on the way. "The money you're going to make as an independent filmmaker right now," Dentler said, "the fact that we can start cutting checks for people today, it might not be huge checks, but at least they're checks."

"They don't approach TV license fees," SnagFilms' Allen said. "We are at the front end of this. However, they are hundredfold, a thousandfold, the size of the checks that most independent documentarians have received from theatrical release."

Gary Hustwit said that filmmakers need to take responsibility for pushing the digital distribution business forward themselves. "Go directly to the audience instead of relying on, with all due respect to the distributors here, other businesses to do it," he suggested. "Why are we building other people's businesses when we could build our own businesses?"

AUSTIN, Texas--The future of news is not breadlines for journalists, a lack of reporting on politicians' scandals, and a dearth of coverage of what's really going on behind the lines of wars around the world.

In fact, a surprisingly optimistic author Steven Johnson said Friday during his talk, "The Ecosystem of News," at the South by Southwest Interactive festival (SXSWi), there's actually a bright future for news and the best hope for a vibrant, effective, and worthwhile news-gathering community is to look back at the model set over the last decade or so in technology journalism.

Steven Johnson

These days, there's no shortage of signs that the news business is collapsing in on itself, unable to develop a modern business model, and confused by how to tackle the threats posed by online classified sites like Craigslist and amateur bloggers posting news items obsessively and continuously.

And where many see these signs pessimistically as proof that the news business as we know it is dead, Johnson, whose books include "The Invention of Air" and "Emergence," sees the same fate as a good thing. After all, he suggested, why cling to failed systems when new ones that are rising to meet the needs of the future are emerging all on their own?

Johnson began his talk by framing what he called "old growth media," the traditional combination of newspapers, magazines, and television news. He recalled how, when he was in college in the late 1980s, he used to stalk his local bookstore around the same time every month, eager for the latest issue of Macworld.

Back in those days, he said, the best way to get the most recent news about what Apple was up to was to read periodicals like Macworld. Yet, with the long lead times of monthly magazines, that latest news was always several months late, Johnson said. Later, when things like CompuServe came along, he was able to compress the timeframe for getting the most up-to-date Apple news to a few days by downloading the most recent issue of Macweek.

And then along came the Web, and sites like MacInTouch.com, Apple's first site, rumor blogs, and fan sites, Johnson said, which made it finally possible to get the latest Mac news in near real-time. "Now the lag is seconds," Johnson said, "thanks to people liveblogging every passing phrase from a Steve Jobs speech."

Today, he said, many people are panicking as newspapers fail left and right, and as they see the likelihood that as a result, the crucial newsgathering role played by professional journalists will disappear with their dying employers. Yet the example set in technology journalism should give such pessimists something to feel good about, Johnson said.

And just because the impressive advances in newsgathering on the Web were seen first in technology journalism doesn't mean they won't spread to more mainstream--read: important--topics like local government, crime, and so forth.

"The Web...just has a tendency to cover technology first," Johnson said, "because the first people to use the Web were much more interested in technology than" things like school board meetings.

The point? That the model is established, and that for consumers of news, the example set in technology news should be cause for optimism, even if not for the health of the traditional news business. And the proof? Johnson pointed to politics, and the coverage of presidential campaigns.

He said that the first campaign he followed closely was in 1992. His main sources for the most up-to-date news were TV shows like CNN's "Crossfire" and magazines like Newsweek, The New Republic, and The New Yorker. At the same time, he said he watched each of that year's debates religiously and stayed up late to devour the post-game analysis on networks like CNN.

And while all of those outlets still existed during the 2008 election (except "Crossfire"), someone sticking to them last fall would have been hopelessly out of the loop compared to the millions of people who were obsessively glued to the Internet, which was delivering an unbelievable amount of coverage of all kinds about the election.

Johnson talked about how blogs like TalkingPointsMemo.com, HuffingtonPost.com, FiveThirtyEight.com, DailyKos, and Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish--one could determine his political bent by the sites he mentioned--served up a steady flow of breaking news and in-depth analysis never before possible during a presidential election. Add that to the fact that he could watch the debates with "a thousand virtual friends Twittering away with me" and the fact that as many as 8 million people watched President Obama's famous race speech on YouTube, and it's obvious that the political news ecosystem, like that of technology, has found a way to move past the antiquated models of just a few years ago.

"What's happening with technology and politics is happening elsewhere as well," Johnson said, "just on a different timetable."

Local news, once the lifeblood of newspapers, is unlikely to be so in the future. Papers like The New York Times can no longer afford to cover neighborhood stories that interest a small subsection of a much larger readership. Yet, it's those very issues that are of most interest to the people in those neighborhoods, Johnson said.

"Most of what we care about in our local lives is in the long tail," he said, referring to the ability of the Web to bring news about the smallest events to those who want it. And, of course, even the Times itself is now starting to cover neighborhoods with blogs.

"Five years from now, if someone gets mugged within a half-mile of my house," Johnson said, "and I don't get an e-mail alert about it within half an hour, it'll be a sign that something is broken."

And as more and more of this long tail-type of news is covered by those other than professional journalists, Johnson argued, it might well free up those professionals to work on the very kinds of stories that people worry they won't be able to do in the future: war coverage, investigations, and the like.

The key, then, will be for the traditional publications to serve the role of public gatekeepers, or filterers of the flood of information coming in from the amateur Web. And that, Johnson suggested, would be a natural task for the editors of institutions known for their authority: newspapers and TV news networks. And while the readership of physical newspapers has plummeted, the numbers for those publications' online sites has risen dramatically, proving that the audience is still there.

In the end, however, it will be the entire ecosystem of news that will bring the full value to news consumers. It will be social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, which can serve as link circulators, as well as large group filters like Digg and, yes, professional journalists and editors. All together, the news will get covered, Johnson said.

The problem is that what should have been a 10-year ecosystem evolution for the news business has been forced into a much more compressed timeframe by today's financial exigencies. And this sense of panic has caused us, as a society, to lose sight of what, in Johnson's view, is a very positive long-term change.

"We need to remind ourselves that there's a lot of value" in this ecosystem and what it will become in the future," Johnson said. But "it's tough to live through transformations."

Conference attendance may be in a recession-fueled funk, but this week's South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas, seems primed for a steep boost in turnout, one that will dwarf even last year's record numbers and challenge the throngs who stream into packed keynotes, panels, and parties.

If you were among the 9,000 people who crammed into the 2008 SXSWi, which had grown a rumored 80 percent over the 2007 edition, there's a good chance your experience included a series of over-capacity talks, endless lines for parties, and sardine-can hallways.

The 2009 edition of SXSWi may lack a marquee name like last year's headliner, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg--though notable FiveThirtyEight.com blogger Nate Silver is keynoting this year--and may be taking place amid an economy in meltdown, but it still is expected to grow between 20 percent and 30 percent. And while some may be tempted to freak out at the promise of teeming crowds, those in charge of the conference and many of its satellite events say the best bet is to just relax and go with the flow.

"Panels (and other sessions) will be overcrowded, and that's a fact of life," said Hugh Forrest, the director of SXSWi. "But to annoyed people, at SXSW, there are always five or six or seven things going on at once, and...inevitably, the most interesting, the most intellectually stimulating thing is something you never planned on, the party you just stumbled into. So we encourage people to be flexible."

Photos: Scenes on the eve of SXSW

Still, while gridlock is almost certain at many of the conference's panels, keynotes, parties and other associated events, organizers say plans are afoot to handle much of that human onslaught, spreading it out to more venues. And that's important for those hoping for the maximum amount of immersion into innovative discussions about the latest interactive technologies and long evenings socializing with the digerati at Austin's leading clubs and bars.

That SXSWi could be growing at all may shock some, given the state of the economy and the bloodletting at other conferences. But for those familiar with the annual five-day geek bacchanalia, there's no mystery in the promised crowd increases.

"It's always been about emergent technology, but now, with the social media explosion, it's only natural that SXSWi would grow in popularity," said Julia Gregory, a Web administrator for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin and an eight-time SXSWi attendee. "And it's still a good deal even for those coming from out of town if you compare the price to other conferences."

Forrest agreed.

"I think the formula of our success in recent years is that we have been better able to tap into this vibrant and creative and inspiring community," Forrest said, "and the more we have learned to listen to and work with this community," the better the event has done.

Indeed, it looks like "South-by," as many people call it, may well be a must-attend event on many geeks' 2009 calendars.

"Every year is bigger, but...I can name so many more people who are going for the first time than (veterans) who are not going anymore," said popular Laughing Squid blogger Scott Beale. "I haven't talked to a single person who says they're not going 'because my company's not paying.' It's, 'I'm going to take time off and go on my own.' This year, there's so many people who've been saying they're going to go for years and they're finally going."

To Forrest, one of the reasons that attendance will be up is that airfares to Austin are cheap right now. He said it's possible to score $200 tickets from Los Angeles and similar prices from the Bay Area, two of the most common home bases for SXSWi participants. Add the fact that a conference pass is relatively cheap--they started at $375 and are now $495--and that many attendees save money by crashing on friends' couches and eating and drinking free at parties, and the event definitely seems like a good deal, even for the unemployed.

In fact, said Beale, some without jobs, and even many with current employment, see SXSWi as key to their next gig.

"If you're out of work," Beale said, "what a great place to meet your future employer."

Dealing with the crowds
There seem to be many ways that organizers are going to deal with the large crowds, even if those efforts won't alleviate all the overcrowding.

One way, Forrest said, that the conference plans to move some of the masses out of the Austin Convention Center is by locating a number of panels, discussions and even a day-long track of premium programming for "platinum" passholders--those who bought more expensive badges that grant admittance not just to the Interactive festival, but also to the adjoining Film and Music festivals--to the Hilton hotel across the street. Also, for the first time, the conference registration desk will open up Thursday, the day before the official opening, to help alleviate one of the more frustrating lines.

In addition, he explained, there are more planned parties this year than ever before, gatherings that can serve as de facto networking sessions. There are also multiple approaches for attempting to get everyone who tries to go to specific parties past the gatekeepers.

For Beale, who is a co-sponsor and organizer of the so-called 32bit party, the key to attracting a manageable crowd is not to release the name of the venue until the evening of the shindig.

That's important to Beale because last year's version of the party was already at capacity when the doors officially opened. In part, that was because the venue was smaller than expected, and in part because there was no secret about the location. This time, while Beale has been promoting the date of 32bit--it is scheduled for Monday night--he will only release details about the venue that night, and only on Twitter.

"When we're ready to go," Beale said, "then we will slowly introduce information on it. No Web site, no Facebook, no Upcoming.org. Only on Twitter."

Beale is also likely to host at least one informal meetup, and that, too, is likely to be announced solely on Twitter.

Another approach is the one Digg is using for its widely promoted Saturday night blowout at Austin's famous Stubb's bar.

The party, which should get going around 8 p.m. local time that day, is open to the public and doesn't even require a conference badge, as do many others. In the past, this has ensured horrendous lines, but Beth Murphy, Digg's senior director of marketing and communications, said the company has ways to make life easier for those standing and waiting and waiting.

"We've developed a couple of ways to communicate with our crowd and keep them posted," said Murphy. "We use everything from Twitter to Facebook to Digg when we announce (information and) to suggest that folks get there early. We give them real-time line update status from our Twitter account."

In addition, she said that Digg will have someone answering questions about the party on Twitter, in real time, in order to give people even more data on their chances to get in. Plus, Stubb's is three times as large as the venue Digg employed for the 2008 version of its party.

Even more unusual, Murphy said, Digg will also be using its top executives, founder Kevin Rose and CEO Jay Adelson, to help out. "It's kind of first come, first served, for folks in the line," Murphy said, "so we often send Kevin or Jay out to work the crowd and hand out swag."

Go with the flow
Despite all that, there are still likely to be times when even those who get somewhere early are going to find themselves locked out of an event they want to go to, or where hallways are too crowded to find the friend they're looking for.

For those moments, the best advice of veteran SXSWi attendees to the first-timers sure to be a little overwhelmed by it all, is to chill out.

"I think it's important to pick your spots--there's always so much to do and so many things going on at once that if you try to do it all you're only setting yourself up for disappointment," said Mike Barash, marketing communications director for on-demand book publisher Blurb.

"Attend the things you really want to attend, and don't try to be everywhere or do everything," Barash said. "You're also going to need to know when to cut the cord--if you're committed to the Facebook party but you've been in line for an hour, do you stay in line, or do you bail for an alleged second-tier spot that may end up being a better time?"

Photos: Scenes on the eve of SXSW