新闻来源：www.nytimes.com
原文地址：Amazon Joins Motion Picture Association
新闻日期：2024-09-19
亚马逊加入电影艺术协会
电影艺术协会会长查尔斯·瑞金（Charles H. Rivkin）表示：“欢迎Prime Video和亚马逊米高梦工厂加盟，将使我们集体的立法工作和内容保护更加有力。”
电影艺术协会现有成员包括迪士尼、Netflix、派拉蒙、索尼、环球影业和华纳兄弟。该协会自2019年 Netflix 加盟后至今未有新成员加入。
亚马逊在十年前开始涉足娱乐行业，以非主流电视剧《透明》和独立电影《曼彻斯特海滩》著称。公司后来扩展其Prime Video流媒体服务，去年花费19亿美元制作或收购内容（包括电影、电视节目和音乐），比上一年增长了14%。
2021年，亚马逊以85亿美元收购了米高梦工厂。米高梦工厂成立于1923年，是电影艺术协会的创始成员之一，在2005年因与索尼合并失败而退出该组织。瑞金在与亚马逊的会谈中提到：“米高梦工厂的收购改变了整个局面。”未来几年内，亚马逊计划将米高梦工厂每年的电影数量增加到16部左右。
Prime Video和亚马逊米高梦工厂副总裁迈克·霍普金斯（Mike Hopkins）称，亚马逊“很自豪”加入电影艺术协会，并参与其为保护创作者、内容和全球消费者所做的努力。亚马逊已经在反盗版方面与该协会合作取得了一些成果。
电影艺术协会历来是华盛顿最强大的贸易协会之一。但在2000年代，随着科技巨头的游说兴起，该协会的影响开始减弱。此外，预算削减和决策缓慢（部分原因是娱乐行业的并购）也让协会受到了影响。2012年，该协会未能推动在线盗版法案，Google等科技公司、包括亚马逊，都对该法案提出了反对意见，称这将使政府能够控制互联网。
瑞金在2017年被聘为电影艺术协会会长。他负责让协会的优先事项涵盖加强版权保护，并推动市场的开放（尤其是中国）和电影税收优惠。此外，他还扩展了该协会在流媒体领域的游说范围。
电影艺术协会还管理美国的电影评级系统，并拥有反盗版部门。上个月，该协会帮助关闭了一个越南视频网站Fmovies，该网站传播了被盗的好莱坞内容，自2023年1月至2024年6月吸引了约67亿次访问量。
在亚马逊加入后，唯一未加盟的大型好莱坞玩家是苹果（Apple）。瑞金说：“过去常认为这是好莱坞和硅谷之间的竞争。但现在已经不同了，界限已经模糊。”
原文摘要：
Hollywood’s top lobbying group, the Motion Picture Association, has a powerful new member: Amazon.
The tech giant’s decision to join the M.P.A. after a long courtship reflects its ambition in the streaming and film businesses — as well as the association’s need to add muscle. “Welcoming Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios into our ranks will broaden our collective policymaking and content protection efforts,” Charles H. Rivkin, the association’s chief executive, said in an interview.
The association’s other members are Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. The M.P.A. has not added a member since 2019, when Netflix joined. Mr. Rivkin, a former United States ambassador and assistant secretary of state, has since focused recruitment efforts on Amazon.
Amazon gained a foothold in the entertainment industry in the 2010s with unconventional series like “Transparent” and indie films like “Manchester by the Sea.” The company has since grown its Prime Video streaming service into a colossus. Last year, Amazon spent $19 billion to make or acquire content (films, TV shows, music), up 14 percent from a year earlier.
In 2021, Amazon acquired Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer for $8.5 billion. MGM was a founding member of the M.P.A. in 1923. But the studio dropped its membership in 2005 amid an ill-fated merger with Sony. In Mr. Rivkin’s membership discussions with Amazon, its purchase of MGM “changed the conversation,” he said. In the years ahead, Amazon plans to roughly double MGM’s theatrical slate to as many as 16 films annually.
Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said in a statement that the company was “proud” to join the M.P.A. and its effort “to protect creators, content and consumers worldwide.” Amazon has successfully worked with the association on piracy efforts over the last few years.
For decades, the M.P.A. reigned as one of the most powerful trade associations in Washington. Its influence waned in the 2000s with the arrival of lobbyists for Big Tech. The M.P.A. also suffered from budget cuts and glacial decision making, in part because of consolidation in the entertainment industry; member studios had become embedded inside media conglomerates with divergent interests.
The low point came in 2012, when the M.P.A. failed to push through the Stop Online Piracy Act, which was mostly aimed at piracy sites overseas. Google and other tech companies, including Amazon, mobilized to defeat the legislation, arguing that it would effectively allow the government to censor the internet.
Mr. Rivkin was hired in 2017 to reinvigorate the M.P.A. The association’s priorities include strengthening copyright protections. It also lobbies to open markets — primarily China — and secure tax incentives to produce films. Mr. Rivkin has expanded the group’s advocacy to include streaming.
The association also oversees the movie-ratings system in the United States and operates a separate unit to fight piracy. Last month, the M.P.A. helped shut down Fmovies, a Vietnam video site that trafficked in stolen Hollywood content, attracting 6.7 billion visits from January 2023 to June 2024.
With the addition of Amazon, the only significant Hollywood player that remains a nonmember is Apple.
“It used to be seen as a Northern versus Southern California battle,” Mr. Rivkin said, referring to Hollywood and Silicon Valley. “That is so outdated. The lines have blurred.”
