I "bought" a song on Amazon/Apple Music... Once upon a time, this would have exclusively been physical media. Now, it's permissible to access digital media only as long as the platform has the licence to distribute it.
Things are broken.
My friends and I were (and still are) very dedicated to a game genre (Fighting Games) and, specifically, a game called (Ultimate) Marvel vs Capcom 3; this game took many years from us, but it was great. However, the relationship between Marvel and Capcom was resolved, so the game was removed from all marketplaces.
No more online purchases, including DLCs.
Even if I did purchase it previously, I can no longer re-download it.
Lost media... at least until Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite was announced/released, and suddenly, the licence was renewed... for now? Even today, the game is reachable on Steam, but Microsoft has just announced that the Xbox 360 marketplace is shutting down.
Before my uncle travelled back to Angola, he passed me a PlayStation One complete with games. Will the PlayStation Network still exist if I hold onto my PS4 for 15 more years and turn it on? What will still be playable? Will the SSD have deteriorated? What will be left at that point? Is there a legal way in place for me to interact with the content I have paid quite a lot of money for just 20 years later? Even if the SSD is still good, and I have games on physical discs, will they even be playable without the marketplace, considering how many games come out needing day-one patches?
What about movies and music? Well, it's the same. Many who read this on release would remember that a major music distributor removed their entire content library from TikTok. Others may have also experienced looking at a post on Instagram where the story has been muted because the song (that they selected on the platform itself) had its licence revoked within 24 of the story post.
We consumers are quite literally left to the whims of these licence owners regarding when we can access the things we "buy". This is not ownership, and this needs to be addressed.
The first generation of digital owners will soon pass on, and we need to see what will happen to their assets when they do. Of course, every company has transferred to a subscription model, but what about products that are still viable today that were purchased with a Perpetual Licence? Does this mean that once I retire, I can pass my account on to my child or my apprentice?
If I've purchased a lot of movies on my Amazon Prime when I reach a certain age, why would I not share my account with my children? I want them to benefit not just from my Prime account but also to have access to the movies and shows I've already purchased on the platform.
The most significant problem is where my "bought" content sits. Today, it's hard to believe that Amazon or YouTube can go down, but there's no guarantee that they will exist in 50 years, let alone 100. We have not thought these things through properly. And we will soon see how much we have ignored when more people pass.
If Instagram truly lasts a century as a product, will our children have access to our accounts as a photo album after we pass? Or will we need a new product to store that data because Meta decides that a dormant account that can't be advertised to is a waste of bandwidth and username?
Will my great-grandchildren be able to read through my thoughts on X (formerly Twitter) whenever they get curious about who I am? Hell, will they be able to read this post if I am not here? If no one pays for my domain anymore? If this server is not protected?
Is this site itself just future lost media? How can I prevent that?
Can crypto be the answer? With the immutability of all content on the blockchain? But I am sure that even the blockchain has a file size limit. It may be time for me to research how the blockchain is stored and on which computers.
I sure don't want to buy an album on Apple Music and not be able to listen to it because I didn't have it downloaded when the license owners revoked access.