Taken from the CNet article Sony PIctures CEO hates the internet: Howard Stringer, the CEO of Sony Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton said,
“I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet…(The Internet) created this notion that anyone can have whatever they want at any given time. It’s as if the stores on Madison Avenue were open 24 hours a day. They feel entitled. They say, ‘Give it to me now,’ and if you don’t give it to them for free, they’ll steal it.”
The internet levels the playing fields for big corporations and small startups.
These are my perspectives:
I’m a guy who sees amazing opportunities coming from the internet. The fact that I can now do business anytime, in any timezone, to anyone who wants to buy my product on impulse is a wonderful notion. It’s as if the stores on Madison Avenue were open 24 hours a day, and Madison Avenue were found in every connected household, and on every broadband-enabled mobile. My customers and purveyors of my content are empowered to connect with me, giving me constant feedback on how I can better serve their needs or improve my product. Best of all, where once I had to pay a lot of money to agencies running focus groups, I now get all this feedback for free. This goes a long way into helping me create a product that is useful to my customers, a product they are happy to pay for.
I’m a guy who sees the internet as the emancipator of the consumer. No longer are we bound to buy more than we need. We have been persecuted by corporations long enough, made to buy 19 tracks of garbage music for the 1 track we really want. They have forced their advertisements on our DVDs, disabling our right to skip content we have no interest in; wasted our time in the movie theatres and on the radio. They have grown fat on extorting us and blame us now that their unsustainable business model is collapsing. Many of us do not expect content to be free forever - we are wiling to pay a reasonable price for the content and services we consume. Spend less time branding us as pirates, and more time building the infrastructure to sell us content free of the boardroom’s control. It’s a simple business transaction - I want what I pay for, and am willing to pay reasonably for what I want.
My name is Lucian Teo. And if you are reading this for free, you are the consumer. You are the resistance.
I'm amazed Howard Stringer would say something like that. Sony has always done a great job embracing and developing new technologies. Looks like the world is moving too fast for some.
Lame Terminator quotes aside, I'm totally with you on outing the corporate defenders of the status quo. I think the recession is speeding up the revolution.
Viva la Freedom!
Benjamin Koe: That was Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, not Stringer.
And Sony's content and hardware arms have been tussling, which results in schizo decision making. Like they kept trying to push their proprietary music listening technology which was a big nuisance, but finally gave in to MP3.
Thanks for the clarification. Yes it was Michael Lynton who spoke those words.
Nicely said, Lucian. =)
With every new thing that disrupts tradition, everyone needs to reinvent themselves.
I heart the internet too. The POWER of personal publishing.