Social Networking’s Free Marketing Plan

My brother’s band recently released an album and to help promote their music, they are offering a free download when you tweet about the offer. This is a great way for new musicians to get their music to a bigger audience. It is normally pretty easy to give away things for free, so why not get people talking about your product, service, etc. with a simple tweet or Facebook post? This also helps businesses, bands, or even production companies gain better insight about what they are offering by tracking the popularity of the free item. If several people are interested in a free download, you can gain an idea of their response to a full album release, pricing the album appropriately for the audience and the artist.

Is it the Game or the Gamer?

A recent article posted by USAToday suggests that the issues around video games begin with the player, not the content. Studies are now showing that the focus should be on each player’s personality. If your child is already one that is aggressive and violent, those kinds of video games may only encourage those actions, which is why those players should limit their violent video game content. Several studies are being conducted about the affect of video games on their players. Patrick Markey of Villanova (Pa.) University presented his research at a meeting of the American Psychological Association. "Video games are not simply good or bad for everybody," he says. "But for some individuals who have certain dispositions, if they play video games they're much more likely to be negatively affected." (Jayson, Sharon.)

Legal Resources for the Entertainment World

For the purpose of this blog, I will be reviewing a few podcasts I had the opportunity to listen to in regards to entertainment law. Gordon P Firemark, Esq.’s monthly podcasts provide brief summaries and discussions of current entertainment law issues. You can subscribe to his podcasts and view recent cases discussed here: http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/

Legalities of the Video Game Industry

As the video game industry continues to be a growing market, its controversies seem to be developing with along with the technology. However, the industry is still considered “new,” its issues around creating and enforcing laws seem to be more complicated. 


Cory Doctorow will be presenting at the Siggraph 2011 conference this month, further detailing these issues. He said he will “get into some of the questions about how you would design copyright policies and systems that actually pay artists instead of ones that just put snitch chips in all our devices” (Kyllo, Blaine.) We have seen what unpreparedness has done to the music industry as they continue to try to develop new ways to create consistent revenue streams. If we do not develop the proper laws to protect this industry, they will be in danger of the same fate the music industry suffered and is continuing to try to recover. According to Doctorow, “copyright law should provide a set of rules and policies that ensure the public gets access to the widest range of works, creators aren’t held over a barrel by publishers, and publishers aren’t handcuffed by vendors or intermediaries” (Kyllo, Blaine.)


Last month, Mark Methenitis wrote about the legal issues around “obscene content” in a recent ruling. Methenitis explains that the decision made followed case law, not bending, breaking or adjusting any rules around media content. I do agree with the statements that the parents ultimately have the control around what content their children are exposed to and can help prevent this exposure with parental controls. But was the analysis of the first amendment used to keep things where they are or help technology progress even further? Again I think we need to start digging deeper into the future and possibilities of these new media outlets to help us determine the how laws will be impacted.


Finally, I would like to discuss the recent data privacy breach with Sony. In April this year, hackers were able to pull personal data, including credit card numbers, from over 100 million Sony users. This breach has left several people and companies questioning the idea of “cyberinsurance” to protect against identity theft (Burkowitz, Ben.) Unfortunately, these data breaches are not uncommon, which is why this instance is stirring the debate around insurance policies. Who knew that participating in an online community could cost you your identity? Now, Sony is looking to its insurance provider to help cover the damages for their customers, but they continue to receive push back.


Again, we see how important it is for us to start planning for the future of these new media outlets. We need to protect our products and services, as well as our consumers. This protection may come in the way of new laws, updated analysis of the first amendment, or even new insurance policies to protect company assets and consumer information. Either way, we need to be making projections with this new media to be ahead of the game instead of behind the curve.




Berkowitz, Ben. Sony data breach : Sony insurer sues to deny data breach coverage Data of more than 100 million users hacked in April. Reuters July 22, 2011.
Kyllo, Blaine. Copyright; Cory Doctorow talks copyright ahead of SIGGRAPH 2011 keynote in Vancouver. August 2, 2011
Methenitis, Mark. 1st amendment rights on obscene games; LGJ: On Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Assn.. Jul 4th 2011 6:45PM.