The name game
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By Bo Andersen -- Video Business, 6/23/2006
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No, we’re not ending the show. The VSDA convention will continue to be the industry’s preeminent annual celebration, and to most in our industry, the event will always be known that way.
But VSDA has a new name: EMA, for Entertainment Merchants Assn.
We are retiring the VSDA name because the association must reflect the industry it represents. The association has merged with the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Assn. to create a new organization to serve all the retailers of DVDs, console and computer videogames and other home entertainment products.
As a result of the merger, EMA represents more than 1,000 companies throughout the U.S., Canada and other nations. Our members operate more than 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S., from the independent video retailers that established home video to the chain specialists and major multi-line retailers who now have the greatest share of the market.
The merger was driven by the same factors that led to the creation of VSDA a quarter century ago. Twenty-five years ago, the diverse elements of an emerging market came together to confront the challenges of new technologies, new business models built on the new technologies and legal and competitive threats to those businesses. Retailers needed to band together to help each other survive.
VSDA evolved into EMA for the same reasons: new technology, new business models, legal and competitive threats. As much as ever, retailers need to band together.
The merger also flowed with the momentum of the intensive convergence of retailing sectors. No longer are video and videogame retailers different companies with separate product lines. Increasingly, retailers of DVDs are also retailers of computer and videogames, and the converse is demonstrably true. And the line between DVDs and videogames has become blurred. Both are optical discs, they have similar packaging, they are merchandised in the same ways, they are operated on the same devices, and increasingly DVDs are containing videogames. Consumers are beginning to look at videogames and DVDs as very similar entertainment choices.
While the VSDA name has changed, the association’s historic mission to promote, protect and provide a forum for the home entertainment industry remains absolutely unchanged. EMA will carry on with that mission.
Today, this means addressing four challenges:
1. Returning the video sector to growth.
2. Managing the transition to the next generation of DVDs and videogame consoles.
3. Protecting the industry from evisceration by piracy and neutering by government restrictions on content.
4. Preparing our members for a future that includes digital delivery.
I’ll be talking at the convention about what we will be doing in each of these areas, but there is no “Easy” button for these. There is no free lunch. This will take what it has always taken—an industry that bands together in common interest and hard work. EMA reflects the momentum of our industry and is ready to meet the challenges head on.
Bo Andersen is president of the Entertainment Merchants Assn.
