Modulator

Wizard People, Dear Reader

Oh, cool!

...in a makeshift screening room in a Brooklyn warehouse, more than 75 filmgoers paid $7 each to watch the first film in the series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Sort of.

On the screen "The Sorcerer's Stone" played as it was released by Warner Brothers. But the original soundtrack, dialogue and all, was turned down and replaced by an alternate version created by a 27-year-old comic book artist from Austin, Tex., named Brad Neely.

There is some chance that this type of creative endeavor will run smack up against some kind of copyright defense mounted by the MPAA folks. Blocking creativity based on existing works is clearly the goal of the folks who want forever copyrights. And as Paul Goyette says:

It would indeed be a shame. Creating and making as much as watching and listening? This could be the perfect remedy for our passive, bloated, consumption-driven culture.

I think this possibility frightens the content folks. Why if folks sitting at home are watching content created by other folks hanging out at home and serving it from home or their friendly hosting company what happens to the revenue streams of the cable companies, the moviemakers, the recording industry, etc. Massive disintermediation becomes a real possibility.

Which, I think, would be a great thing for everyone except the legacy industries. Creative destruction at its best!

Read the New York Times article.

Oh yea, on my cable connection the download of Wizard People, Dear Reader is currently taking less then 30 minutes!

Posted by Steve on June 8, 2004