What Does Ownership Mean In the Digital Age?
Welcome to One Moore Hollywood Podcast. In this episode, our hosts, Chris Moore, Katie Marpe, and Dennis De Nobile, discuss the relative permanence of buying digital content. This conversation was spurred by the recent PlayStation announcement that due to licensing agreements, previously purchased Discovery media from PlayStation will be deleted from customers' libraries.
While PlayStation has now backtracked that announcement due to 'updated licensing agreements,' the fact remains that companies selling digital content still have the power to take that content off their sites and out of their customers' libraries if they so choose.
"You don't realize there are gatekeepers on stuff that comes to your house because you can't see the gate."
–Chris Moore
Buying content digitally, from Amazon Prime movies to music videos on iTunes, doesn't necessarily mean owning it in perpetuity. This is a shocking realization for some people, as we are all used to purchasing equating to owning. As licensing deals concerning content ownership continue to shift and change with time, we may see other companies removing purchased content from their customers' libraries.
In this episode, our hosts discuss what they think ownership means regarding digital content, if there are ways to protect it, and whether this announcement will push people to revamp their dusty (or tossed) DVD collections.
"Owning" Digital Media
According to our hosts, what it actually means to own digital content is that it's yours insofar as the platform you've paid retains the license for that content.
"I am disturbed by the fact that buy doesn't mean own. It doesn't say buy to license; it just says buy."
–Dennis De Nobile
Buying digital content means you can watch it as many times as you want while it's still available on the site you purchased it from. While it's probably true that this is covered in the fine print of each purchase, it's fair for customers to feel indignant and misled, precisely as our hosts do.
So What Can We Do?
Although we can't know exactly what prompted PlayStation to retract its announcement that it would be removing purchased Discovery content from its customers' libraries, the frustration and outrage of its customer base likely had something to do with it, suggesting that loudly voicing concerns about digital purchasing rights can be fruitful.
Additionally, our hosts muse on what it would look like to lobby Congress to clarify terminology and laws around the word 'buy.' Moore suggests starting a lawsuit to get customers paid back for content they lost.
Unfortunately, all three of our hosts agree that money is the thing that moves the needle. We'll see change when someone is motivated enough around this topic by money made, or money lost. In the meantime, people may feel safer returning to the long-lost days of DVD collecting when purchasing digital content really meant owning it forever.
Listen to the entire episode here: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio.
