On The Commons: What we can learn from the “Nollywood” Model
Link: OnTheCommons.org | The Improbable Success of Nollywood.
David Bollier has a blog post at Onthecommons.org that takes a look the rising Nigerian film industry, and their more decentralized and more “open” distribution practices. (quote):
“Every week, about 30-40 new films are released. They are all sold by
street vendors, directly to consumers, on videocassettes. (Nigeria
doesn’t have any movie theaters.) The videos cost $3 apiece and rent
for 50 cents. Although pirates in outlying areas of Nigeria sell
illicit copies for $1.50, the industry is still thriving. Indeed, one
might argue that sales of pirated videos is whetting the consumer
appetite for legitimately purchased films.Nigerian filmmakers
release about 2,000 low-budget films a year, which rack up sales of
$200-$300 million. (By comparison, American studios released 611
commercial films in 2005. India released 934.) The Nigerian industry
employs about one million people, which makes it the second biggest
employer after agriculture. A typical film costs between $30,000 and
$100,000 to make, according to The Economist magazine (June 29, 2006).
A lot of Nigerian films deal with witchcraft, murder and other unsavory
themes, and production values are often poor. But the stories clearly
resonate with the Nigerian consumer. In fact, Nigerian films are so
popular that they are watched throughout Africa; on a South African
satellite television network; on a British pay-television channel owned
by Rupert Murdoch; and on commercial airlines.The lesson that I
draw from Nollywood is that an open, decentralized marketplace with
lots of participants is likely to be more creatively robust and
competitive than the Hollywood blockbuster culture that we are now
saddled with. In fact, doesn’t the Nigerian film biz sound a lot like
the Internet itself? It’s a low-cost platform open to newcomers who
have the talent to connect with audiences. Word-of-mouth beats out
glitzy advertising campaigns. Internet-savvy creative rebels in the
industrialized world may find something to emulate in the Nigerian film
industry.”(end quote)
In my opinion, we started to see a similar industry grow for a time in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, with independent music record labels, magazines and distribution systems. And, in these areas, we now have “long tail” distributors (like Amazon, ebay, lulu, netflix, etc). So, it seems that we already have the infrastructure, and past examples of models like what Bollier is talking about above.
So, why haven’t these models emerged on a larger scale? I think this type of relatively distrubted and open media emerged in Nigeria because there was a void that needed to be filled. While, in the US for example, big entertianment conglomerates make it by comparison extremely easy to access their content. They tend to fill in and dominate all of the major voids.
However, the nicheing of consumer demand may be causing new “voids” to emerge faster than the large conglomerates can fill them in. This may then present more opportunities for a diverse and decentalized industry to emerge that can fill these voids and niche demands.
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6 Responses to “On The Commons: What we can learn from the “Nollywood” Model”
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“So, why haven’t these models emerged on a larger scale?”
Eh, ClearChannel, RIAA, and MPAA doing everything they can to stop it?
Lack of marketting power and payola power on the part of Indy bands and labels . . .
Lack of time/money on the part of consumers to pursue music beyond the hottest bands . . .
Also, the record labels are pretty good at picking up the talented acts as they emerge. The guy who host my website was part of a band that got offered contracts from Warner and Sony, and they hadn’t been together long before it happened.
Well, yeah, that’s what i’m saying: that in Nigeria, there was a big void that was filled by the more decentralized industry described. Where, in the US they “tend to fill in and dominate all of the major voids.”
But yes, I definitely agree with you on all of those factors, of course. They definitely do actively work to contain and/or co-opt independent media.
Plus, there are huge amounts of people in US culture who don’t consider independently-produced media as being “worth” their time and/or money. But, then again, there are people like you who work on creating high quality content that can compete for attention with major media output.
In your case, your own enthusiast community can help spread knowledge about your content. And, this can change the perception, little by little, for people who thought that independent content was not worth their time.
There are actually people who creating knowledge bases about marketing things in this way. For instance, see Pinko Marketing:
http://pinkomarketing.pbwiki.com/
This is the type of “marketing” that will likely work well for your XTIN project.
Sorry, don’t mean to sound snarky.
And I’m still in search of an enthusiast community
Checking out pinko marketing – I’m not sure I understand this. All I do is post on the wiki?
FWIW, I think Nollywood and the Technobrega thing are more representative of a pre-Hollywood industry than a post-Hollywood industry. They show that copyright law isn’t necessary to make money, but it doesn’t mean things are fair and equitable or “better.” Do the pirates selling the $1.50 tapes really deserve to be making any money at all? Maybe they’re slowing the growth of the Nollywood creators by taking actual sales from them.
Hollywood used to crank out mass quantities of movies too – but as time went on it took more and more to impress people and the movies got more expensive to make. Thus, fewer are made. I think games are going through the same maturation process. Nollywood may be making a greater quantity of films, but because they’re at an earlier stage in the maturation of their industry, not because they have a better business model.
Jeremy, you are probably right about this and maybe Tecnobgrega representing a pre-hollywood model. Although, if licenses allow people to copy and redistribute for money, as in the case of Tecnobrega, there really is no “piracy”, because the license would give them the right to copy and sell. (although I don’t know if that is the case in the Nollywood example).
This would then actually make a new type of business model. Or, similar to the devnations license in purpose http://creativecommons.org/license/devnations
“if licenses allow people to copy and redistribute for money, as in the case of Tecnobrega, there really is no “piracy”, because the license would give them the right to copy and sell.”
That’s true.
Well, tell me if you think this idea is useful. The reason why the Nigerian and Brazilian small artist/businessman can succeed is because they have a local market. Their competition is other small artists/businesses with similarly short reach. Our competition in the first world is the transnational corporation, with a reach long enough to get into all our local markets, and push the level of competition so high that the small artist/businessman can’t compete on their own city block, or if they can compete the returns are so small and the effort so high that any victory is a Pyrric victory.
To a certain extent the internet, relatively cheap computers (acknowledging the existance of the digital divide, not everyone can play yet), and free software even out the playing field. But it’s often twice as hard or more to figure out how to get the same effect out of free software as commercial software, and time is one thing small operations can’t afford to waste.
Maybe what we really need is a zealous base willing to support free content just because it’s free content. If that movement existed, there would be a practical merit to Drew’s approach. I haven’t connected with those people yet though, but maybe you guys know where they’re at.
“Maybe what we really need is a zealous base willing to support free content just because it’s free content. If that movement existed, there would be a practical merit to Drew’s approach. I haven’t connected with those people yet though, but maybe you guys know where they’re at.”
How about we try to raise a cool million like the filmaker and seek another filmaker who will make a film and release the whole bundle under a BY-SA license. Raw footage, raw sound, different edits, final edit. The whole shebang.
Or take the same million and run a song contest with ten prizes of 100,000 each for ten genres? All songs submitted to the contest must be licensed BY-SA. All original.
Or… ???
all the best,
drew