RIP Kodak Film

Another company in trouble, could this be the end of kodak film?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ben and Skin Show ninety seven point one. The Eagle
Big day today because as part of our iHeart Teachers
thing that we've been doing the honor teachers all month,
we have a Burgner teacher. Can't wait to tell you
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download it now, it's free and maybe you'll get a

(00:21):
chance to win later. Pete Davidson Rebroke the Internet last night.
We have the audio, but right now it's time for this.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Skin track, another edition of things Sin is Tracking.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Okay, this caught my interest. You know, I hadn't really
thought about this company in a long time, but I
do know people that you know that it's more of
like a hobby.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
You know.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
The other day we were talking about least attractive and
most attractive hobbies and one of the ones that was
on there was photography. Now, obviously photography has changed a
lot because of all the digital stuff and then people
just taking it with their phones. But listen to this headline,
Kodak has substantial doubt about future.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
What is Are they just a film company?

Speaker 1 (01:11):
So I think they made cameras and they they were
the one that's Polaroid.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I'm thinking of.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
The Polaroids, were you. I think you're right on Codek.
They made the little squares, Yeah, filed papers cameras they did,
and you turn them in and you got the pictures.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm confused now because I think Polaroid and Kodak were competitors.
Polaroid made the pictures that are ready you don't have
to get as Yeah, the extent Polaroid, the one step. Yeah,
I thought that's what Polaroid was. Kodak I thought made film.
It's like old school when you'd have a camera, it'd
have that weird plastic film thing in it.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yes, Yes, that was the film. Yes. And they made
those paper cameras you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yes, and then another one in that that used to
advertise all the time in that world was Canon, But Canon,
you know, made the adjustment to the digital world, says
Kodak's future may not be a clear picture.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
A Katie would love that, you would love it.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
On Monday, the one hundred and thirty three year old
company said there is substantial doubt about being able to
stay in business. Kodak said it may not have the
resources to pay its debts. The photo company filed for
bankruptcy in twenty twelve. That came after it they struggled
to adapt as digital cameras began replacing film cameras. Like

(02:24):
just looking it up, it says printing and imaging solutions, Okay,
So okay, Well, not that many people actually want to
hold a physical picture anymore, right, it doesn't, you know,
and especially young people.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
I still like it.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
And you know, it's so people kind of consume everything
now on their phone or on a computer iPad.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
They don't you know, I.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Don't know if you're having pictures around the house maybe,
but you could also just go to any site and
send them the picture you took on your phone and they'll.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Send you a print of it.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, And it really comes down to, too, do you
want to mess with film? Yeah, Like this was the
thing that records went through Vinyl and then there was
a huge resurgence after all these pressing plants went out
of business and then suddenly there was a big resurgence
in it. But it kind of goes back to the
whole thing of like when a company gets gigantic, and

(03:16):
so you have to keep feeding the beast. But there
is like, for example, there's money to be made in
the newspaper business. It just needs to be a smaller operation.
But all those companies got so big they couldn't exist
anymore because they couldn't feed the massive, you know entity
that was that beast. If you're smaller and lean and mean,

(03:38):
like I know some new companies that have just started
pressing vinyl, and they can succeed, but they're not going
to be big giant companies like it was in the
past when these businesses were so f and huge. Yeah,
and that's probably owned and operated but like a small business. Yeah,
but if bigger capital came in and took it over,
they're like, Okay, we are only judging the success or

(04:01):
failure of this based on quarterly earnings. How much better
did you do this quarter than you did last quarter?
How does that compare anually?

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Oh my god, not good fire everyone? Yeah, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, And can these brands like reinvent themselves. But your
point about pop culture collectibles, though, it is interesting. I
know all that's coming back as people are now, like
you said, for vinyl, But I saw a story the
other day about VCRs and people are trying to get
VHS tapes of movies and stuff. Again, I don't think
it's going to be sustainable for a bunch of people

(04:31):
to eat, but there's people that.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Are going to start collecting them and that's pretty cool. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, it's like what you know, what is your lane
and what is your business size? I was hanging out
last year with a guy from he was from Ireland
and he's with a real traditional old tape company, you know,
Record to Tape, and he still travels the world and
goes to all these studios.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
It's still record to tape.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Like that's a much smaller thing than it used to
be in the seven and eighties when the record business
was massive and is a billion dollar business and all
these studios existed and all this stuff.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
But it's just a smaller lane. Now.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
There's still big enough to be a global company, but
not near the scale that they were.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
And it's just so interesting. How is Kodak gonna survive?

Speaker 2 (05:17):
I think those instant cameras you brought up, I could
see those making a comeback if they can just hold
on a little bit longer. Because younger generate they love
Polaroid cameras.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, I've got one myself, but those are different things.
I know they are.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
I used to use those, but I could definitely see kids.
I saw a younger kid posting a digital camera from
like the early two thousands, and they were all excited
about that.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
So maybe hold on kodaks.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Well, kodaks are coming back to if you take a
paper camera and you got to go to a drug
store and drop it off and get it.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Think about that.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
We used to take our pictures to a little kiosk
in a parking lot, drop it off, and they would
go through them.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
And you take a picture. You don't even know if
it was a good one or not.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, but they go through them and check them out
before they even get to you, and they look at
your stuff and then unless you want to develop your
own film film anyways, interesting story, uh there about kodak
all right? Coming up next, Pete Davidson talks about his
dong and we have the audio right here on the
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