Single Tea : Rs.10/- | A Chocolate : Rs.2/- | A Movie : Almost Free :(

The Music Industry has faced a downfall in this decade. Now Music is almost a freebie. With the Advent of OTT Platforms and digital home & Mobile entertainment, to attract mass population to start using the platform,  most of the contents was required almost for free. Biggies earn on Indies sacrifices.

Many organisations sourced content at a Big cost from Big Production Companies and adjusted the expense by sourcing content from small producers under the revenue share model promising revenue based on every human watch. Thus the small players were attracted to give their content for free to these platforms. These platforms advertised that they have a huge library, (of which most are on revenue share), sold their App subscription packages to watch multiple content & titles. But what they did was, they made the small providers advertise at their own expense saying their content is available on these platforms thereby the platforms gained a free promotion for their Apps & websites. But when people start using them, these platforms advertised the content they bought outright only. They just din’t care for the creators who were on revenue share.

They made a system in such a way that it shows only the Big Stars upfront and made it difficult to find newly added content from small providers under each category / genre. Thus small content providers kept advertising continuously and got tired as people land on the Platform to watch the content from big stars. This is the Dark Side of OTTs.

For small and Indie Artists, the revenue slowly became peanuts. If the viewership of these movies decline, new content would be replaced and the old ones removed. 

More over, these platforms have created a habit with the audience that Art can be watched for a rock-bottom price. Example, an OTT platform charges a user 1000 rupees per year and give them a music app, a movie app, free delivery of goods via online shopping, all unlimited. This make a cost of movie watch, a stooped down tipsy penny, much lesser than a chocolate or a single Tea. It is as good as free for the public. The Big stars survive as they get upfront payment and the small one take the beating, whilst the platform advertises they have a huge library and make merry. Platforms must Respect Art, Save Indie Artists, Pay them individually, so they can survive !

Note. Primarily, Selfies are made for mobiles and movies for the big screen. Watch movies on Big Screen if possible and see the energy and true entertainment in its originality.

~ An Article by Arunkanth, Founder of 'AK Online' - OTT Platform for Independent Films. 

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