The Trouble with Digital Copies: A Short KM Phenomenology

Background

In order to understand what has changed with the introduction of digital copies on the market, let me shortly illustrate the diverse phases and services of the traditional value chain of a media object (e.g., a music album). As I proposed with Glorioso & Ruffo (2010), the different activities and services may be distinguished in four different steps.

First, we have the authoring phase in which an artefact is created. Sometimes this phase includes a pre-production stage as with the preparation of a demo tape to be presented to a content producer. Then, the production phase starts with individual contracts between authors and business organizations such as record companies, publishers, and the like. The artefact is usually refined by a team of professionals, and finally copied on a given physical support (e.g., a CD).

Thirdly, what has been produced needs distribution according to a marketing strategy. Physical objects are then shipped all around the world (or a single country), so that the cost of the item increases as it is delivered to the distributed network of malls and shopping centres by means of transportation service-suppliers. Finally, there are the clients or consumers: they ideally close the chain by paying a price that covers all of the costs of the work which increase with every single step of the cycle.