Blindspots

When you reach out a multimedia platform service provider, are you interested in the platform or the content it carries? Without such platforms, content providers cannot make available their multimedia works widely and to scale up their revenue streams. Without multimedia works, no platform can attract end-users' eyeballs.

A recent court case in China tells the story that a multimedia platform service provider would blatantly disseminate, without authorization, recorded quarterly TV episodes of a broadcaster. Naturally, the broadcaster - a live multimedia platform and original content provider that felt the negative impact sued the infringer. The court ordered the latter to compensate the former several millions of RMB.

A TV quarterly episode contains layers of individual copyright works, from screenplay, lyrics and music to sound recordings and video clips. Unless they are all created in-house making the employer the copyright owner, there is a legal need to obtain licences from third party copyright owners. It is not uncommon that entrepreneurs could be too focused eg on the technical front and could not see their blindspots.

A multimedia platform service provider should therefore identify its value proposition, and recognize the legitimate key activities to deliver it. It should take into account its strategic assets, partners, and cost structure needed in creating the multimedia work in-house or obtaining licences from third parties. Only when the legal risk is managed upfront can the business model generate recurrent revenue streams!

#Blindspots