7 ms·

It boggles my mind how glossy and polished and professional the site is, and that it gives credit to the people who make it happen, but gives no recognition to

It boggles my mind how glossy and polished and professional the site is, and that it gives credit to the people who make it happen, but gives no recognition to the people who make the content that everybody feels entitled to.

Karunamon 11y ago
I think the info pages for every movie on Popcorn Time show the credits and other relevant metadata. So.. yeah, they're getting recognition.
api 11y ago
This is the dead horse I keep beating in these threads. If there were no copyright, Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. would all be doing this to artists for massive profit and with their brands front and center. People would actually ask questions like "what, you mean Apple didn't make The Hobbit?" The idea that everyone would just transition to a gift culture and give artists a big hug in a post-copyright world is incredibly naive. Too many people are cheap greedy assholes. It'd be an exploitation-fest for the five seconds it would take for all creative industries to go bankrupt. Then there would be nothing.
- ska 11y ago
  It might be dead for a good reason. I've heard lots of articulate arguments for reforming the copyright system, and "The idea that everyone would just transition to a gift culture and give artists a big hug ..." has not been part of any of them. At the very least copyright reform and "gift culture" are very distinct ideas.
  - rhino369 11y ago
    I see that argument all the time. They claim they'd just donate to artists they like or use kickstarters to fund big projects. Also, removing copyright isn't really copyright reform.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- happyscrappy 11y ago
  It may be naïve but it hardly matters because copyright does not appear to be going anywhere, just more whack a mole, while anyone who is willing to put in the effort can get whatever they like.
- Strang 11y ago
  I agree that the current creative industries would probably go bankrupt. Goodbye to the "summer blockbuster", pop megastars, etc. Is that really such a vital societal good that we need to take civil and criminal action against individuals that threaten these industries? I disagree entirely that there would be "nothing". Art and entertainment would just look different. The budgets would probably be lower, and the payment and distribution channels would be entirely different. Kickstarter/Patreon vs. Netflix/retail.
  - api 11y ago
    "The budgets would probably be lower," This is another way of saying the salaries would be lower and there would be no benefits or permanent career path in the arts. The arts would become a hobby that people do before they get a 'real job' that is able to support them as adults. What I don't think you understand is that those big-budget shallow pop pieces support the rest of the industry both directly and indirectly. Look at software for an example -- your little open source effort is in fact bankrolled by the open source ecosystem that is subsidized by Facebook, Google, big VC money, etc. The high salaries in tech are held up by the demand that these large houses create. When you cut the top of the pyramid off an industry, the result is recession -- an overall deflation of the rest of the labor market. Look at what happened to even unrelated industrial concerns in Detroit when the big-three auto makers left town. The entire economy of the city collapsed, not just car factories. I'll give you a concrete example: all the cool synth and instrument gear musicians use to innovate. It's a good example because I know people who work for Moog Music and other firms in those areas. The majority of those firms' revenue comes from larger and deeper pocketed artists and other creative concerns that buy the latest-and-greatest and the big-ticket items. Kill off all that and Moog would go out of business and all the little indie bands would no longer even be able to purchase gear. Your ability to produce an album or a movie on a Kickstarter budget is in fact subsidized indirectly by way of demand generated by the larger and deeper pocketed side of the industry and the productive economy of scale that it helps create. Industries are ecosystems and the bigger concerns within them are primary producers -- what happens to a forest if you cut down all the trees? I agree that copyright is in need of some reform, but the radical anti-copyright and 'pirate party' position is just insanely naive and would completely destroy art, music, and literature as viable career paths for anyone. It's the kind of position you encounter from people who have zero understanding of economics and/or are really naive about human nature (a.k.a. have never met a sociopath).
sleepyhead 11y ago
1) This is a Norwegian financial newspaper. Basically The Financial Times of Norway. 2) The article is about the people who made Popcorn Time. Not about producers of content. 3) Why do you claim that everybody feels entitled to content? Surely you must understand that is not true. Even though some pirates would pirate regardless of legal alternatives there is a a lot of people who do so because that content is not available on Netflix or other options. Which is the reason why PT was developed in the first place - no legal alternatives in Argentina.

Karunamon 11y ago

I think the info pages for every movie on Popcorn Time show the credits and other relevant metadata. So.. yeah, they're getting recognition.

api 11y ago

This is the dead horse I keep beating in these threads. If there were no copyright, Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. would all be doing this to artists for massive profit and with their brands front and center. People would actually ask questions like "what, you mean Apple didn't make The Hobbit?" The idea that everyone would just transition to a gift culture and give artists a big hug in a post-copyright world is incredibly naive. Too many people are cheap greedy assholes. It'd be an exploitation-fest for the five seconds it would take for all creative industries to go bankrupt. Then there would be nothing.

ska 11y ago
It might be dead for a good reason. I've heard lots of articulate arguments for reforming the copyright system, and "The idea that everyone would just transition to a gift culture and give artists a big hug ..." has not been part of any of them. At the very least copyright reform and "gift culture" are very distinct ideas.
- rhino369 11y ago
  I see that argument all the time. They claim they'd just donate to artists they like or use kickstarters to fund big projects. Also, removing copyright isn't really copyright reform.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
happyscrappy 11y ago
It may be naïve but it hardly matters because copyright does not appear to be going anywhere, just more whack a mole, while anyone who is willing to put in the effort can get whatever they like.
Strang 11y ago
I agree that the current creative industries would probably go bankrupt. Goodbye to the "summer blockbuster", pop megastars, etc. Is that really such a vital societal good that we need to take civil and criminal action against individuals that threaten these industries? I disagree entirely that there would be "nothing". Art and entertainment would just look different. The budgets would probably be lower, and the payment and distribution channels would be entirely different. Kickstarter/Patreon vs. Netflix/retail.
- api 11y ago
  "The budgets would probably be lower," This is another way of saying the salaries would be lower and there would be no benefits or permanent career path in the arts. The arts would become a hobby that people do before they get a 'real job' that is able to support them as adults. What I don't think you understand is that those big-budget shallow pop pieces support the rest of the industry both directly and indirectly. Look at software for an example -- your little open source effort is in fact bankrolled by the open source ecosystem that is subsidized by Facebook, Google, big VC money, etc. The high salaries in tech are held up by the demand that these large houses create. When you cut the top of the pyramid off an industry, the result is recession -- an overall deflation of the rest of the labor market. Look at what happened to even unrelated industrial concerns in Detroit when the big-three auto makers left town. The entire economy of the city collapsed, not just car factories. I'll give you a concrete example: all the cool synth and instrument gear musicians use to innovate. It's a good example because I know people who work for Moog Music and other firms in those areas. The majority of those firms' revenue comes from larger and deeper pocketed artists and other creative concerns that buy the latest-and-greatest and the big-ticket items. Kill off all that and Moog would go out of business and all the little indie bands would no longer even be able to purchase gear. Your ability to produce an album or a movie on a Kickstarter budget is in fact subsidized indirectly by way of demand generated by the larger and deeper pocketed side of the industry and the productive economy of scale that it helps create. Industries are ecosystems and the bigger concerns within them are primary producers -- what happens to a forest if you cut down all the trees? I agree that copyright is in need of some reform, but the radical anti-copyright and 'pirate party' position is just insanely naive and would completely destroy art, music, and literature as viable career paths for anyone. It's the kind of position you encounter from people who have zero understanding of economics and/or are really naive about human nature (a.k.a. have never met a sociopath).

sleepyhead 11y ago

1) This is a Norwegian financial newspaper. Basically The Financial Times of Norway. 2) The article is about the people who made Popcorn Time. Not about producers of content. 3) Why do you claim that everybody feels entitled to content? Surely you must understand that is not true. Even though some pirates would pirate regardless of legal alternatives there is a a lot of people who do so because that content is not available on Netflix or other options. Which is the reason why PT was developed in the first place - no legal alternatives in Argentina.