Wired Editorial: Embrace Digital Now



Multiple people have e-mailed me this editorial from Wired about the glacial pace at which Marvel and DC are going about implementing a system that involves people being able to download lots and lots of comics. Kudos to Mark McClusky for his very funny opening (that was the first place I drove as well, although one's options are limited in a small town at two in the afternoon), and his common-sense throwaway assertion near the conclusion that aggressive digital distribution might best serve an overall corporate profit policy aimed at licensing revenue.

As for the rest, while there's certainly a case to be made that some sort of policy should be further along by now at the majors, I think the issue has some layers. In fact, it kind of reminds me of a similar suite of decisions facing the comic strip syndicates as to how to approach on-line distribution, a still-ongoing concern. Most mainstream comic books distribute through a store system that counts on back-issues sales, and many books are sold as repositories of plot-line revelations rather than a specific entertainment experience -- I know the numbers are against me, but when I had a brother downloading chunks of DC's line for free I lost all desire to pick up the books in paper form. Besides, if they can get someone to upload these things for free, and don't perceive a profit out there for pay-per-downloads this would cost them, I'm not sure why they don't just let people do that and reap the benefits of greater licensing awareness.

In the end, I don't think these are insurmountable problems by any stretch, but I can understand taking a big longer to make sure.
 
posted 2:23 am PST | Permalink
 

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