Insight into selling art: Chinese Movies Theaters Firm in the US

[scarecrowbob]

I thought that you guys might think its interesting that in China, where IP challenges are... difficult... there is a company that has spent $2.6B to acquire the AMC chain of cinemas in the US:

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/21/business/china-amc-wanda-theater/index.html

 

It would seem (and I believe that US cinema history follows a similar trajectory) that it is not so difficult to get people to pay for uniquely good experiences, especially when you compare it to the difficulty of profiting from protecting IP.

 

Just a thought. I don't know if it is true, but I have been told that the chinese middle class pays quite a bit to go to the cinema, and they see it as quite an upscale affair. Hence it is a viable medium.

 

The takaway is the idea if you can create situations people find valuable or even interesting then you will do a lot better in getting them to pay you for your art. My feeling is that recorded music is quite the opposite in that it is premised on easily duplicating an experience that can be had literally on demand anywhere at any time....

[Vito Corleone]

 

I thought that you guys might think its interesting that in China, where IP challenges are... difficult... there is a company that has spent $2.6B to acquire the AMC chain of cinemas in the US: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/21/business/china-amc-wanda-theater/index.html It would seem (and I believe that US cinema history follows a similar trajectory) that it is not so difficult to get people to pay for uniquely good experiences, especially when you compare it to the difficulty of profiting from protecting IP. Just a thought. I don't know if it is true, but I have been told that the chinese middle class pays quite a bit to go to the cinema, and they see it as quite an upscale affair. Hence it is a viable medium. The takaway is the idea if you can create situations people find valuable or even interesting then you will do a lot better in getting them to pay you for your art. My feeling is that recorded music is quite the opposite in that it is premised on easily duplicating an experience that can be had literally on demand anywhere at any time....

 

 

Exactly. You have to give people something "new". Music--both live and recorded--has been offered in essentially the same format for decades. 4 guys on stage playing guitars and singing in front of amplifiers? That's been done a bit already.

 

Recorded music? You can get that anywhere. Gotta come up with something new and different that just anybody can't get just anywhere.

[A. Einstein]

In China traditionally music and film is free. There is no concept in people that any of that should be payed for.

 

This is the facts the government is facing. Will take some time to tell 1,3 bullion people that now they must pay.