Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID) announced the release of a new book titled "The Storyteller’s Dilemma: Overcoming the Challenge of the Digital Media Age," written by Avid chairman and CEO, Louis Hernandez, Jr. The book examines the impact of technology on society in a connected, digital age, and the harsh economic realities of an evolving media landscape. Hernandez, Jr. explores the origins of this rapidly evolving digital transformation and proposes new ideas and solutions to help everyone across the media ecosystem—from the largest media enterprises to the individual artists—all of whom are confronted by the unintended economic consequences of digitized media.
"The Storyteller’s Dilemma" guides a global community of film and video editors, news broadcasters, musicians, audio engineers and leading media professionals in four parts: How we all play a part in a digital world, how we got here, why things do or do not work and where we can go from here. Part one establishes that humans are born storytellers, and stories are vital to our social fabric. The way we interact with audio and visual media has a profound effect on our culture and everyday lives. Across various industries, organizations have struggled to adapt and thrive as digital technologies have disrupted their business models. Parts two and three delve into technology’s role in storytelling, the current media landscape, and the unintended social and economic consequences of digitizing media. As digitization accelerates, there are new ways for people to share their creativity and consume content. Media companies and professional content creators face a digital revolution that is moving faster than the industry’s ability to adapt and expand on its traditional role. In part four, Hernandez, Jr. addresses the challenges of the digital age and proposes a comprehensive solution and vision, which will allow media and entertainment professionals to connect to common elements and have the freedom to use the creative tools they want, ultimately connecting creators, distributors and consumers more powerfully.
Today, Avid empowers its client and user base with a comprehensive set of tools and workflow solutions to create, distribute and monetize the most loved, watched and listened to media in the world. In "The Storyteller’s Dilemma," Hernandez, Jr. shares how Avid has had to fundamentally transform as a company and design an ecosystem that future-proofs and protects technology investments. Beyond Avid’s own transformation, this book focuses on lessons learned from addressing key challenges facing the media industry, including tightening media tech budgets, the increasing rate of content creation, an exponential growth in distribution platforms, the continued increase in content consumption, and the economic realities of the digital age.
“'The Storyteller’s Dilemma' illustrates the effects of a technology revolution on the media industry and will help guide our community to build an innovative, creative and lucrative future that benefits everyone across the media ecosystem – from the large global media companies all the way down to the individual artists,” Hernandez, Jr. said. “In telling Avid’s own transformation story, I’m also hopeful that the complicated, challenging lessons we learned can be applicable to others in the media industry, and serve as a lesson to other companies facing these same challenges.”
From extensive discussions with and inputs from Avid’s preeminent client and user community during his travels to all corners of the globe, Hernandez, Jr. uses this unique knowledge gained to establish his vision for the future—one in which the complexity and imbalance of the media industry is replaced by new processes, resources and tools that simplify and streamline how content is created, distributed and monetized. This vision ultimately serves the needs of the industry’s most inspirational and award-winning thought leaders, innovators and storytellers who push the boundaries of creativity and artistry. Hernandez, Jr.’s unique vantage point, at the nexus of content creation, innovation and distribution, has afforded him unparalleled insight into the future of entertainment. This is the foundation of this book, which for the first time delves into the future of digital content creation, cloud collaboration, the value of a common platform, and democratized entertainment. Ultimately, these views and this vision is what’s fueling Avid’s strategic direction and its focus on delivering end-to-end workflow solutions that can lower the cost of innovation, provide more flexibility to adapt, and offer simpler ways to integrate with the media value chain.
Several of Avid’s prominent users also contributed to the book (from Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group), including Maryann Brandon, ACE (editor of Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens), Jesse “Corparal” Wilson (music producer for Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, Ne-Yo, Celine Dion, Birth of a Nation, Empire and more), and Jason Stewart (editor of The Amazing Race, The Voice, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, World’s Greatest Dad, Sleeping Dogs Lie).
