Certified, Pre-Owned Content?
The Outsell Now blog had a post earlier this month about what they called the Ownership Society ... specifically content ownership. It starts with a discussion of Napster's new subscription model and goes on to provide points in a discussion of content and perceptions of ownership. The post concludes:
We've concluded that all parts of the content industry are lined up along a "rent vs. buy" spectrum, but that the concept of owning content is slowly losing ground to other models of access.
Now, Outsell is a market research firm that specializes in the information industry. So, it's a descriptive, not prescriptive, conclusion. Which made the klaxons in my head ring even louder.
A world in which most standard content is leased/licensed (from music files to e-books to pay-per-view movies) and all set to expire after a few playbacks or a fixed time limit) ... I can hardly imagine a greater threat to fair use and first sale than this. Leasing is a form of licensing and licensing trumps copyright. I don't think there's any fair use defense for violating a licensing agreement. It means more locks, more DRM and more restrictions.
Just as I don't believe that all content should only be available in digital formats, I don't believe all digital content will be un-ownable by end users/listeners/readers/watchers. But is it too farfetched to worry that if people can't use their fair use rights for a growing number of items, they may no longer expect those rights? If the "rent vs. buy" scenario fully develops, will libraries merely change their operations to adapt or will they have to alter their missions in order to remain operational/relevant? And at what cost (tangible and intangible)?