{"id":3289,"date":"2016-10-23T16:57:52","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T08:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=3289"},"modified":"2016-10-23T16:57:52","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T08:57:52","slug":"region-restrictions-in-a-globalised-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2016\/10\/23\/region-restrictions-in-a-globalised-world","title":{"rendered":"Region restrictions in a globalised world"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think we can all agree that globalisation<\/a> has won, and we live in a flat world. <\/p>\n

However when it comes to consuming media, we still live in a world of regional restrictions. Rights are not issued globally, and rights owners see this as milking every last penny by ensuring that regional restrictions apply. This is not just true for the movie world, but also the music world, and generally the book world. Apparently the entertainment industry is one of the last holdouts in realising that we live in a truly globalised world.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I read an interview in the FT with Kate Tempest<\/a>, a writer\/rapper whom I’ve not heard of. I immediately hopped onto iTunes, searched Apple Music and started playing her tunes from her album Let Them Eat Chaos – Kate Tempest<\/a>. This was a success<\/strong> and I’d discovered a new artist.<\/p>\n

A few months back I was in a bar (the recently shuttered La Conserverie<\/a>) in Paris, speaking to a Japanese friend, and I was telling her that I did know some J-Pop; growing up it wasn’t too far fetched you would listen to some songs that made the mainstream English radio stations. One example was Utada Hikaru’s First Love<\/a>. The French friend who was there said he’d love to hear it, so I fired up iTunes on my phone, and tried in vain to find the song, and realised its not in the catalogue (don’t worry, YouTube saved the day). This was a failure<\/strong>, and I didn’t get to reminisce properly. <\/p>\n

Just last week, I fired up Netflix (now blocking all VPN traffic, an almost impossible thought<\/a> two years ago, with VPN providers giving up the fight<\/a> nowadays) and started streaming The Mirror Has Two Faces<\/a>. I stopped around the half way mark and switched countries only to realise that now I’ll have to wait to be in the same geographical location again to continue watching the movie! I’d mark this as a failure<\/strong> because it hurts the user experience; it isn’t Netflix’s fault, it is the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n

I still listen to an old song that I like, that resides on my drive and not in the cloud — Puff Daddy featuring Jimmy Page – Come With Me<\/a> from the Godzilla soundtrack. It’s not on Apple Music, but it is available with Amazon Prime Music, that comes for free with an Amazon Prime subscription<\/a>\"\"! I’d mark this as a failure<\/strong> since I’d expect my music collection to be available in one place, not scattered across various services.<\/p>\n

We’re living in an increasingly globalised world. We have friends from all over the world. We’re travelling more frequently. This is all supposed to be a good thing – exposure to the world. Why hasn’t the entertainment industry caught up yet? Would they prefer everyone just focused on content piracy<\/a>? Region restrictions do not work in a globalised world.<\/p>\n

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