Superstar WME Agent Ari Emanuel On How To Monetize Superstar Talent In The Digital Age
This year, Julia Boorstin interviewed Ari Emanuel, the CEO of William Morris Endeavor (WME), at the Web 2.0 Summit. He shares his perspective on the state of monetizing superstar talent and how technology has shifted the range of opportunities available to them. Considering that we normally focus on smaller and midsize acts, this is a fascinating (read: scary) look into the upper echelons of the entertainment industry.
Watch the video below:
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If you stayed turned in until the middle, there's also some outlandish views on file sharing to be heard. Ari really, really doesn't like piracy or content that is free.
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“Stealing is not right.” How outlandish.
I’m talking about the part where he gets all fired up in the Q&A and how he doesn’t believe that the claims made by the audience member.
are the views REALLY that outlandish? His statement was that stealing is fundamentally wrong – now can anyone really argue with that? He didn’t say anything about if an artist chooses to give something away, or if a content provider is able to secure income through some other method to allow their content to be viewed for free… what he said was just because something isn’t made available to you in the way that you want it, that doesn’t MAKE IT RIGHT for you to then go and steal it. I don’t know how anyone can argue with that. I also like his point about him being a parent and teaching his children that stealing is wrong – you can bet he explains that digital theft is no different from physical (only that it is easier to do).
I don’t think people realize where he stands on the issue – he wishes that there was a better system in place so that people could consume content however they want it, and the content creators / providers would still be compensated. I’m not sure if people really understand what Ari does or how he fits into the overall scheme – yes he is extremely powerful in Hollywood but for the most part he merely represents talent in terms of negotiating deals, and those deals can really run the gamut.
I actually agree with Ari to some degree. Content providers whether they be artists, actors, writers, etc. are starving because the content consumer doesnt pay fair market value for the content. Artists are now on the slippery slope where they create content for a certain amount of money and the consumer if its available, will take it for free.
You dont stream an entire movie for free in hopes that MORE people will go buy a ticket to see it. Artists shouldn’t give away entire songs or make them readily available for streaming unless they expect to LOSE sales.
I agree with Ari. Its asinine and not really a good business model.
Sam
How is it scary?
Yes, you can only successfully monetize when you have control and monopoly. Making that happen online will indeed be a challenge. You will need government legislation and the ISP’s in your pocket before you can initiate that.
Good Luck Ari.
I’d like to add too, that watching this a few more times, I’ve come to think that it’s not his view precisely on file sharing that I found outlandish.
It’s that part where basically said that what that publisher did isn’t possible. It reminded me of this story that ran awhile ago: http://torrentfreak.com/book-piracy-can-boost-book-sales-tremendously101023/
It’s a very interesting example of people paying for something that they were already getting for free.
Its about getting to people to want to pay – we are entering an age where listeners have to become patrons of the arts if they want to see their favorite bands survive.
You can use free content to build a relationships with an audience, at least then you have a chance of making money at some point.
Here is a blog post we recently posted about free music:
http://www.liveunsigned.com/blog/2010/10/how-to-use-free-music-to-grow-your-fanbase
Of course stealing is wrong.
But there are still plenty of people who believe that making a digital copy of something isn’t stealing and that “digital theft” isn’t a real thing because “digital” isn’t a real “thing”. That assumption is the crux of the argument.
The future direction of our business will be decided based on how our society defines and treats intellectual property, not by how our government tells us how to define and treat intellectual property.
TIME FOR YOUR GENERATION TO STOP STEALIN
AND START DEALIN!! ITS NOT COOL TO DOWNLOAD
MUSIC THAT IS NOT SUPPOSE TO BE FREE!!