Saturday, January 09, 2010

Idiotic Ideas !!

3 idiots, the latest buzz in town is also getting released on You Tube, though some 8 – 10 weeks later. Raju Hirani, the director says that people are anyways going to download the movie from the internet, why not earn some revenues from it. I think this is an excellent idea.

Many people will still prefer going the free way – downloading from torrents or getting it from friends. But there will be some who won’t mind spending a few bucks getting it “legally”. Human mentality is at work. If it is really cheap vs free, people will have tendency to go for the real cheap because it frees them from the guilt of piracy. It is something similar to what Chetan Bhagat books did a few years back. Everyone used to get the pirated books to get them cheap. E.g. a Rs 300 book is easily available for anything between Rs 80 – 120 at any roadside vendor. By pricing the book at 100 bucks (which now has become a trend with new authors), people went in for the original because it was real cheap. Why not buy an original for 100 rather than a duplicate for may be Rs 60 – 70 and be guilt free.

Moreover, it also helps in creating a buzz which is especially useful for a new movie. Say the movie is available for download for Rs 100, one who downloads it will definitely put it up on twitter, facebook etc encouraging the circle of friends to go for it.

One potential problem can be the payment on the internet. Many people are still wary of internet payments and many users will be of the age group who may not possess bank accounts or credit cards.

I am eagerly waiting to see how this strategy of 3 idiots goes through!!

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