[6] See Zach Whittaker on the recent Kanopy data breach, “Streaming Site Kanopy Exposed Viewing Habits of Users, Researcher Says,” Tech Crunch, March 21, 2019, Web, techcrunch.com/2019/03/21/kanopy-data-leak/. You represent and warrant that you: (i) are over the age of eighteen or the age of majority in our jurisdiction, whichever is greater; (ii) are of legal age to enter into a binding contract; and (iii) any person prohibited from using the Service under the laws of your country of residence or other applicable jurisdiction. Persons under the age of eighteen or the age of majority may only use the Service with the participation of a parent or guardian and are otherwise subject to these Terms of Service. [1] Monica Castillo, “How to Stream Thousand of Free Movies Using Your Library Card,” The New York Times, p. 24. August 2017, Web, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/watching/kanopy-criterion-collection-librarycard.html; Brian Raferty, “The Best (Free) Streaming Service You`ve Never Heard Of,” Wired, December 5, 2018, web, www.wired.com/story/kanopy-best-movies-streaming/; Karl Quinn, “Meet Kanopy, the streaming service that is like Netflix, only free”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 February 2018, web, www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/meet-kanopy-the-streaming-service-that`s-just-like-netflix-only-free-20180215-h0w63j.html. There is no shortage of options to work on the cabler. And that doesn`t even count those who illegally access content on the internet. But a streaming service is trying to beat those monthly fees from Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Now by providing streaming movies for free — all you need is a library card. “Through all measures, Kanopy has addressed the need to provide our users with easy access to both materials used for academic purposes and general use by individual customers,” said Travis Willmann, spokesman for the University of Texas Libraries. “We still see significant activity in the physical media of our collections, but a streaming service adds a facet to our resources that is important to a subset of our users.” Beamafilm is a competing streaming service that offers the same free access with an eligible library card, but also an affordable $5.99 subscription for anyone unable to sign up through their local library. This seems to be a more reasonable solution.
Television shows cover a wide range, from the Agatha Christie miniseries to SpongeBob SquarePants. You can browse the content available on Kanopy here. “Kanopy offers a demand-driven model in public libraries that is reminiscent of iTunes Rental. We charge a library $2 for each movie played (after an interval of 5 seconds). On average, an active member of the public library watches 2.2 videos per month. The positive side of education awards is that more money per unit goes to the filmmaker, even if the distributor also receives a percentage. The negative side is that many movies are out of reach for many potential viewers. (Even research libraries have budget constraints.) Could distributors better price their films in order to obtain wider distribution? Perhaps, but they have a plan based on their long experience with the market. Niche distributors, including distributors of many canonical films that researchers study or teach, are wary of cannibalizing the education market with cheaper home videos; For the big studios, however, universities make up only a small fraction of their cast.
For example, the large-scale release of Kino Lorber`s Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers or Icarus` Chantal Akerman box set or Criterion makes it possible to sell more DVDs and BluRays, but undoubtedly also consumes a lucrative education market. (It`s worth noting that large studio films, which are often run by distributors like Swank Motion Pictures, are also more expensive when billed for public screenings and educational streams.) Another streaming service with many animated and children`s movies. They also have Marvel comics if you are tired of videos. Frankly, their selection of e-books and audiobooks is better than their streaming video: in fact, with a total of over 225 million digital downloads, Rakuten could be a major player in the global e-book market that is not visible simply because the watchdogs of the publishing industry do not follow library eBooks. Anyway, they have a good selection of movies: Check out Ghost in the Shell. (d) All rights granted to you under these Terms of Use are subject to your compliance with the Terms of Use in all material respects and may only be exercised for your personal, non-commercial educational use. Your access to and use of the Service must also comply in all material respects with the Acceptable Use Policy published by Kanopy or set forth in the agreement between Kanopy and the institution through which you access the Service (“Institutional Agreement”). You shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Kanopy and its affiliates and all of their officers, directors, employees, agents, partners and licensors (collectively, the “Kanopy Parties”) from and against any and all claims, demands, losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses, including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys` fees, arising out of your: (a) violation of the Terms of Use or any law or regulation; or (b) violate the rights of another party. The timing was no coincidence. This was the result of Kanopy`s introduction to the public library market and a flash of press releases supported by the many public libraries that signed up for Kanopy. The marketing campaign came at the right time, coinciding with the decline of traditional film libraries among major streaming services, with Netflix prioritizing TV. The wider on-demand media landscape had apparently withdrawn from classic and niche films, and Kanopy filled that gap.
[2] (c) ALL CONTENT MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR CONFIRMING THE ACCURACY OF ALL INFORMATION BEFORE TAKING OR NOT TAKING ANY ACTION. Kanopy is available through phone apps, TV apps, and web players. However, the economic and cultural changes brought about by Netflix and Kanopy have led niche providers to consider streaming initiatives for personal use. The Criterion collection has long focused on the home video market and has therefore taken a keen look at streaming, first with Hulu, then as part of a partnership with Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for FilmStruck. The demise of FilmStruck, fueled by Warner Media`s declining commitment to niche distribution, prompted Criterion to create a standalone Criterion channel inspired by FilmStruck, focused on themes, eras and auteur filmmakers, complementing films from the Janus/Criterion collection with other titles from the repertoire. With random timing, Docuseek, a streaming platform focused on the education market and priced on it, has created OVID.tv for the personal market. OVID combines documentaries and arthouse fiction offerings from Icarus, First Run, Grasshopper Film, Women Make Movies, KimStim, Distrib Films and Bullfrog Films into a subscription video on demamd (SVOD). These new services will enter a market that will compete with the existing cinephile streaming site MUBI, as well as more specialized on-demand services such as DocAlliance. I see the model of streaming sites operated by distributors as a positive development, although it remains to be seen how viable or popular they will become.