Reasons To Get Into New Media

Everyone knows that new media has forever changed the old media world, but there are still lots of companies involved with licensing that have yet to take the plunge and reinvent their businesses.

Please feel confident and understand that new media actually removes a lot of the frustrations of trying to get your job done in old media.

Take the typical case of a newly created animated character. The creator loves the character and wants lots of people to see it and enjoy it, then make him famous and rich by watching the animations and buying the spin-off products.

Fair enough, but in the old media world his only option to create global public awareness was to persuade sizeable companies to produce and broadcast the animations on TV or in a movie.

Since it costs a fair few thousand in any currency to achieve such an aim, the creator had to face a sticky issue - loss of control over his destiny and his creative authority.

Yep, the companies putting up the cash don't want some pesky entertainer messing up their balance sheets, their schedules and their merchandising departments.

But let's say that the miracle occurs and, after some years elapse, the animations finally get on air and the next step is to offer character merchandise to retailers. Oh dear.

That can be very difficult and take a very long time. And even if the head office buyer says your stuff can go in her shops, the store managers will appear determined to hide the stock, so that no irritating members of the public can find it, with a view to buying it.

All hail then, the world wide web and its many wonders: audience testing - when can you start?; global audience - no problem; clearly visible merchandise - visit the ecommerce shop; character downloads for mobile phones - ready in a jiffy and for a snip.

Imagine the creator building an Arctic Monkeys style momentum with the public online, without some stuffy old corporations holding him up.

Then, he can get the same corporations lining up, begging for a licence so that they can share the benefits of the animated character's popularity. Which all keeps the destiny and creativity right under his control.