Are digital downloads “good” for indie filmmakers? It could be the title of a panel discussion (and may well be one in the future)- it should certainly be a topic for discussion in the forums when Infinicine.com launches properly (8/8/8!).
For now, though, let’s start off the conversation with some basic pros and cons. For the sake of simplicity, I am limiting this discussion to downloads specifically, though some points may overlap with concerns and delights of streaming, VOD, or other kinds of online distribution methods.
On the good side:
- Terms of a lot of these deals seem quite favourable to filmmakers on the surface. Quite a few DL services offer up to 75% of the revenue to filmmakers and some even pay for setup, provided the filmmaker provides an appropriate master (in some cases, this is no more than a DVD).
- When filmmakers can set up deals with these companies, they offer the filmmaker a lot of control in terms of how and what materials are presented and sometimes at what price.
- Online sales can be more than just sales, they can be marketing for other ancillaries if properly managed.
Cons:
- Many of the larger, more potentially-revenue-producing sites require a catalog of 15-20 films before they are interested in discussing a deal.
- Online revenues are not in the realm of DVD revenues at this point.
- Online sales have the potential to cut into DVD sales. If an online strategy isn’t managed in a complementary way to DVD sales, there is potential for undercutting oneself.
- Online sales can be problematic for international sales and television sales- filmmakers should make sure all their higher-revenue optional are settled before doing online deals.
- Filmmakers often do not get as good terms as a distributor or agent would get on their behalf, since they don’t have as much leverage.
What do you think? There are definitely more on either side.
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COMMENTS / ONE COMMENT
William Murrell added these pithy words on Aug 10 08 at 11:14 pmI’ve spent many years repairing laptop computers and desktops.
I don’t think consumers will favor buying a digital download movie when get it on a disc because computers are not as as reliable as the cheapest Walmart DVD player.
And since the ’90s, most people have lived through a hard drive crash.
My first iPod mini broke on a day it was out of warranty. When I took it to the Apple store Genuis bar they gave me a brand (BLANK) new one for $69 bucks and took my old one away, well, actually they trashed it!
Yeah, all those songs simply vanished.
So, imagine your hard drive full of movies going Zap ola!
You’ll have nothing to show for those digital movies you bought.
You’re NOT likely to keep a backup of the hard drive with all those digital movies…well, maybe bootleggers will but most people won’t because giga-sized movie files take too long to transfer over USB cables used by most consumers who don’t use firewire devices and most are using USB.
So digital download sales are not going to dent DVD physical product sales in the forseeable future.
No Way!If a movie is hot its going to be bought on a DVD disc, most likely after it goes on sale.
I think you will find that COMCAST on-demand and Verizon FIOS delivered cable box movies will outstrip the demand for digital downloads in the foreseeable future.
My advice to the filmmaker’s marketing engine is “get it on cable, make it available somewhere in a physical store, use your web site to sell direct or drive audience to the physical or online stores that stock and can ship the physical disc, then think about how to create a sale from a digital movie download version in that order.
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