186-188 Histoire(s) du cinéma and other works

[tenia]

As for "artificially made not to be", it's pretty much never the case that a boutique label will region-lock if they don't have to; it's always a contractual obligation imposed by the rightsholder. A savvy label will actively want people to buy outside the region, and will therefore ensure that there are no compatibility barriers beyond the simple region flag.

I read "artificially" as "a debatable contractually-imposed practice", made to look all the more archaic by UHD's choice to be without locking by design.

However, while not wanting to play the devil's advocate, isn't a label actively looking to sell outside its market... breaching that contract ? The savviness is obvious, and I'm myself part of those who can navigate around region-locking, but, say, Indicator's Region B UK releases are for movies they only have the rights in the UK, possibly because someone else have them elsewhere (in the US, but also in other Region B markets - France, Germany, Italy, etc). One could argue that actively (key word) looking to sell past the borders of the rights they hold is over-stepping contractually.

[MichaelB]

To quote that splendid Polish phrase, “not my circus, not my monkeys”. On a technical level, I do what the label asks of me, unless of course it’s impossible (although this is hardly ever the case with the labels I freelance for).

[tenia]

I certainly understand this, but what we're writing here about this matter certainly is our circus and thus our monkey.

[MichaelB]

I think you underestimate how little I care about this stuff when it’s not in my professional in-tray.