First simultaneous multiplatform film release – why did it take so long?

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I’ve never fully understood the reasons that film studios always release movies to the cinemas first, then rental, then DVD, then finally video-on-demand services and TV. It baffles me why they’d want to make it harder for consumers to enjoy their products, especially now that digital distribution means that there’s no reason why film studios can’t just let people buy a film as soon as it’s ready.

Moderately important men say Radiohead's "Pay what you want" gimmick for In Rainbows was successful.

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A shocking new report out today has sent shock waves through the music industry after the revelation that giving away stuff for free is actually really popular.

Will Page, an economist for the MCPS-PRS alliance (perhaps the world’s longest acronym) and Eric Garland (boss of Big Champaign – a company who apparently do “online media measurement”) have taken a look at Radiohead’s In Rainbows album that they released last year with the gimmick of “pay what you want to pay”, and have come to the conclusion that it was actually a pretty good idea…