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My biggest problem with these piracy disputes is the amount of damages involved. I realize that the record companies are claiming that they missed out on sales, but imagine this: You run a red light (breaking the law) and hit an executive on the way to a big client meeting. Are you liable for his missing out on a multimillion dollar contract?
Piracy = Marketing
The statistic that 95% of pirated music would not have been purchased, had piracy not been an option should be mentioned more often. The fact that someone violates copyright by pulling down the complete beach boys does not suggest that he would have purchased a $100 box set. The ease of piracy is the impetus. He would have happily gone without the product.
Regardless, if piracy becomes legal & socially acceptable, it will remove an reason to buy a $100 box set at any point. You may still have your 95% rule, but you'll just have an average person 'owning' 2000% more music then they would have otherwise with 0% of the cost.
I'm not arguing that piracy should be legal, but that it should be just about as illegal as speeding.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regardless, if piracy becomes legal & socially acceptable, it will remove an reason to buy a $100 box set at any point. You may still have your 95% rule, but you'll just have an average person 'owning' 2000% more music then they would have otherwise with 0% of the cost.
I think it may settle at illegal and socially acceptable, much like driving faster than the speed limit - punishable in rare cases. And people will feel about as much shame for having done it. I'm not arguing that piracy should be legal, but that it should be just about as illegal as speeding.
What you do get on these sorts of threads everywhere from here to spamblog is people saying something along the lines of: I pirate some things that I want to listen to. If I like it/it's good enough/it's reasonably priced/ I like the artist, I buy a copy.
The power is in the hands of the 'consumer.' They decide if they want to pay or not based on their own criteria. That's not ownership! That's beerware. Consumption is not tied to purchase.
The record companies & friends play up to this trying to increase the moral pressure. This seems to have the effect of increasing the above sentiment.
Anyway we're stuck in this no man's land. How sustainable is it? I don't think it is sustainable at all. We are following the music lives in a cd protocol like a cargo cult. People are going to buy cds of artists they like because they remember that is how they used to do it. That memory will fade, the cd player will disappear & we'll still be buying licences in the form of a cd? I don't think so. What's the alternative? Buy the license online? People will go online & literally make a donation to a millionaire?
Something's gotta give
*If there is a proper recession, maybe we'll see donations to artists in the form of cd purchases go down with donations to normal charities.
I wish there was an easy way to donate to the bands directly. No TPS and no big labels taking 90%. Clean, easy, and direct. Tipjoy are you listening? :)
At least this article tries to point out that there's a significant difference between "real" piracy and "who gives a damn" piracy. One of the biggest problems still remaining today is the fact that all the power is with the recording companies, at least when it comes to music; it's not with the people who actually created the work. Somehow, I doubt Prince would care that some baby is dancing to a grainy recording of…
It would be great if studios only produced great music and movies.
Until now, a lot of crap has been produced knowingly because all they need is people going into theatres & music videos with scantily clad women waving their asses around.
But in their quest for quality, how could the studios always choose only the productions which will actually rise to true greatness?
A lot of good stuff would never make it through, but maybe that's alright since no one has enough time and money to discover all the music he would fall in love with anyway.
You and I might enjoy high quality entertainment, but what about Most People?
They're the ones buying and liking all that crap that has very little merit other than some random hot guy/girl being fascinating?
It's problematic. Smart people want quality, but most people will settle for whatever's rammed down their throats.
As for me, I actually buy quite a lot of music that I really like, because I want it at maximum quality.
I'm not as innocent when it comes to movies. Sometimes I download them, but rarely go see them in theatres.
Sometimes I start watching a downloaded movie but stop because it's not good enough.
Sometimes, a downloaded movie happens to be really enjoyable, but will I go buy it after watching?
Nope..
The problem is that the re-use value of good music is pretty much infinite, but you'll rarely want to watch even a good movie again, so after seeing it, its value drops close to zero.
If videos like Ms. Lenz's are so valuable, why aren't they & others like them being shared at mininova? One glance at the popular file sharing sites should convince anyone that piracy doesn't need the wsj's defense. Clearly we value this "remix culture" a lot less than we think we're supposed to.
We do value it but its more intimate and less noticeable than mass culture. Most stuff people create - jokes, sketches, songs, voiced opinions, puns, parodies, etc. etc. isn't shared. In fact this "microculture" is the basis of our social lives.
I think mass culture is both a result and a product of our social alienation. The Internet and a better, less snobbish school education in music, literature and art can make wonders for world peace and love ;-).
If videos like Ms. Lenz's are so valuable, why aren't they & others like them being shared at mininova? One glance at the popular file sharing sites should convince anyone that piracy doesn't need the wsj's defense. Clearly we value this "remix culture" a lot less than we think we're supposed to.
Buying albums doesn't support the talent - it supports the suits. Margin wise, artists make jack shit from albums. They make significantly higher cuts from touring, but even that isn't enough. I wish there was an easy way to donate to the bands directly. No TPS and no big labels taking 90%. Clean, easy, and direct. Tipjoy are you listening? :)
A site for any band to upload their music to be available for free with a built in donation system would be popular indeed. Maybe even profitable?