I wish there was a sort of white label service for streaming content. One middleman that negotiates with the content owners and then exposes an API to deliver the content on a pay-per-stream basis or something like that. I know it's unrealistic, but I want my choice between Netflix and Hulu or between Spotify and Google Play Music to be about the features and UX, not who has what content. Though this problem doesn't seem to be as significant when it comes to music for some reason.
Exclusive content makes sense from a business perspective. Hence Netflix pouring money into creating its own shows to become HBO faster than HBO can become Netflix[1], but as a consumer, I think I'd prefer a world in which they could still do that, license it through the middleman, and make profit regardless of where it is actually streamed.
Having an API for content could also be awesome for prospective startups, since it would allow any developer to just pay for access rather than having to figure out how to negotiate a licensing deal.
Exclusive content makes sense from a business perspective. Hence Netflix pouring money into creating its own shows to become HBO faster than HBO can become Netflix[1], but as a consumer, I think I'd prefer a world in which they could still do that, license it through the middleman, and make profit regardless of where it is actually streamed.
Having an API for content could also be awesome for prospective startups, since it would allow any developer to just pay for access rather than having to figure out how to negotiate a licensing deal.
[1] http://gizmodo.com/5980103/netflix-the-goal-is-to-become-hbo...