Make Me a Copy?

Hey, make me a copy of that, will you?

Recently, one of my customers mentioned that whenever he plays an ARVN video at a club meeting, a couple of hams will ask him to burn a copy of the video for them.

Flattering.

It is a big problem for ARVN? I don't know. I suppose it could be. We're a shoestring operation. So far, we're just meeting expenses in producing the videos, and not making much to cover all the time we put in shooting, editing, authoring the DVDs... all that stuff you don't see when you sit back and watch the show. If you burn them a free copy, well....

I'd love to make more programs. Take you places and show you things that hams are doing all over the hobby, all over the country (dare I dream "the world"?). To do that, we're going to have to do better than "meet expenses."

I have two big questions:

Do enough hams want this to make it a real business?
Is there a better way to do market the video?

On question 1: ARVN gets a lot of praise, and not much criticism about the content and production values of the programs. We have a very enthusiastic core of customers and viewers. And that is really great, but it's not big enough (yet) to sustain a business. Are there more potential fans out there who just don't know about us yet?

The negative comments I do hear are about me selling video, rather than giving it away. Some just shrug and say "Hams are cheap, so good luck with that." A few are genuinely offended. Our prohibition from doing business on the air leads to a suspicion about doing business at all. And hams do give away a lot - expertise, design, time. The TAPR guys, for example, blow me away with how much they volunteer to the community. Well, I volunteer a lot, too - the Q-mobile spends lots of weekends out at public-service events. Alas, I can't afford to do that with ARVN. McDonalds isn't giving me free Happy Meals^®. Tell you what... if I win the lottery, ARVN video will be my gift to ham radio.

On question 2: Maybe DVDs are the wrong way to go. My original idea was to sell our programs on DVD, mostly to clubs. Some of the videos make great club meeting programs just as they are. Some are too long or technical for a meeting, but they would make a good addition to a club library that members could borrow. If enough clubs did that, but "kept it in the club" and didn't distribute "free" DVDs to every other club in the region, I think we could sell enough to sustain a business.

The missing element that some customers have asked for is on-line distribution, either pay-per-view or paid download to keep. I haven't found a distributor to work with on that - the industry is just barely getting started for small, independent producers like ARVN. If you know of a resource for that, tell me about it.

Last words: If you like ARVN, want to see more and see us grow, then please spread the word where you can, and... I guess... don't give'em away.

73,
Gary KN4AQ

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