7 ms·

It's not that you can't make money. It's that this particular business model doesn't jibe with reality. There's a reason iTunes switched to DRM-free formats ear

by sp332 7y ago

It's not that you can't make money. It's that this particular business model doesn't jibe with reality. There's a reason iTunes switched to DRM-free formats early on. For video games, piracy can actually increase profits, because people really like a try-before-you-buy model. (Piracy is not as helpful for movies.) It's possible, actually not super difficult, to make money for "bringing films into existence" without trying to keep 100% control over distribution. Check out all the Patreon accounts that put out freely-available YouTube videos for a trivial example.

LanceH 7y ago
Or, you could just not watch what you haven't paid for.
- sp332 7y ago
  That's one option among several. For example, don't take money for content the user hasn't experienced yet.
  - bitwize 7y ago
    It's also the only legal option for the audience to take. The companies who own the copyright make the content available under certain terms. Don't like the terms? DON'T WATCH THE FUCKING CONTENT. If you do somehow contrive to watch the content despite not accepting the terms, then you are stealing and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Capisce?
    - LeoNatan25 7y ago
      How rich that you speak about law, yet insist calling it “stealing”, when the law is very clear that copyright infringement or breaking a civil agreement is not stealing.
fouric 7y ago
That's like saying that "trying to prevent kids from doing hard drugs doesn't jibe with reality". Piracy of entertainment content is straight-up immoral, and the only reason it's not viable as a business model is because certain groups of people actively work to prevent it from being such.
- sp332 7y ago
  You can deal with people in good faith. You don't have to be so cynical as to think that piracy is going to kill your business or livelihood. Game of Thrones was HBO's most-pirated show and also one of the most profitable shows of all time. There are whole stores like GOG that are DRM-free because piracy is not the biggest barrier to making a profit. Getting your content to people and letting them give you money are the important parts.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    There isn't anyway of knowing it was the most profitable unless you can prove that the number of people who signed up for HBO because of GOT was enough of an increase to make up for the cost. Maybe? But I haven't seen any surveys.
    - sp332 7y ago
      HBO knows how many people watched, yeah. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-television-gameofthrones/game-of-thrones-draws-7-1-million-viewers-for-blood-filled-finale-idUSKBN0ER2N520140616 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-television-gameofthrones/... Here's an estimate of the costs and revenues. https://decider.com/2019/05/21/game-of-thrones-hbo-profits/ https://decider.com/2019/05/21/game-of-thrones-hbo-profits/ ThinkMoney had a somewhat lower estimate but they don't say how they got those numbers. https://www.finance-monthly.com/2019/05/how-much-money-has-hbo-made-from-game-of-thrones/ https://www.finance-monthly.com/2019/05/how-much-money-has-h...
comeondude 7y ago
Still stealing. The dude above is freely admitting to grabbing movies wholesale and distributing them in a glib manner. And I’m addressing him, because it’s wrong. I’m the guy on the other end of the economic equation. End of the day it’s a choice to do the right thing and respect the artists behind the work you enjoy regardless what the “reality” is.
- ripdog 7y ago
  Not even remotely close to stealing. Stealing causes an actual loss to the victim - they owned an item which is worth money, and now they don't. Copyright infringement, OTOH, causes a potential loss to the 'victim'. The copyright industry's propaganda about 'piracy = theft' is based on the frankly absurd concept that anyone who pirates media would have paid for it had piracy not been an option. This claim doesn't hold up to the slighted shred of scrutiny. >End of the day it’s a choice to do the right thing and respect the artists behind the work you enjoy regardless what the “reality” is. Except when you pay money for TV, movies or video games, your money either doesn't go to the artists behind it, or very little of it does. Rather, the money goes to the investors who funded the work, or the publisher contracted with the musician. The real people lacking respect for artists are the publishers/record labels whose entire contribution to the process is making the initial investment, paying artists the bare minimum - and moaning about internet pirates, it seems.
  - manigandham 7y ago
    It's not stealing but it is illegal copying. You're gaining the same experience as someone who did pay for it.
    - washadjeffmad 7y ago
      It's unauthorized distribution. You don't get in trouble for copying a licensed work, you get in trouble for making it available to others without permission from the current rights holder (or more likely, their hired thugs or your ISP). How would Fair Use and libraries work if copying alone were illegal?
manigandham 7y ago
Paying for content to consume is a perfectly valid business model and has done extremely well for music and video streaming. It seems that you specifically do not like the deal, which is fine of course, but that doesn't excuse stealing and copying content that you didn't pay for.
Mindwipe 7y ago
> There's a reason iTunes switched to DRM-free formats early on. iTunes has spent the last five years very aggressively moving away from that to subscription revenue because it makes no money.

by sp332 7y ago

LanceH 7y ago

Or, you could just not watch what you haven't paid for.

sp332 7y ago
That's one option among several. For example, don't take money for content the user hasn't experienced yet.
- bitwize 7y ago
  It's also the only legal option for the audience to take. The companies who own the copyright make the content available under certain terms. Don't like the terms? DON'T WATCH THE FUCKING CONTENT. If you do somehow contrive to watch the content despite not accepting the terms, then you are stealing and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Capisce?
  - LeoNatan25 7y ago
    How rich that you speak about law, yet insist calling it “stealing”, when the law is very clear that copyright infringement or breaking a civil agreement is not stealing.

fouric 7y ago

That's like saying that "trying to prevent kids from doing hard drugs doesn't jibe with reality". Piracy of entertainment content is straight-up immoral, and the only reason it's not viable as a business model is because certain groups of people actively work to prevent it from being such.

sp332 7y ago
You can deal with people in good faith. You don't have to be so cynical as to think that piracy is going to kill your business or livelihood. Game of Thrones was HBO's most-pirated show and also one of the most profitable shows of all time. There are whole stores like GOG that are DRM-free because piracy is not the biggest barrier to making a profit. Getting your content to people and letting them give you money are the important parts.
- scarface74 7y ago
  There isn't anyway of knowing it was the most profitable unless you can prove that the number of people who signed up for HBO because of GOT was enough of an increase to make up for the cost. Maybe? But I haven't seen any surveys.
  - sp332 7y ago
    HBO knows how many people watched, yeah. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-television-gameofthrones/game-of-thrones-draws-7-1-million-viewers-for-blood-filled-finale-idUSKBN0ER2N520140616 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-television-gameofthrones/... Here's an estimate of the costs and revenues. https://decider.com/2019/05/21/game-of-thrones-hbo-profits/ https://decider.com/2019/05/21/game-of-thrones-hbo-profits/ ThinkMoney had a somewhat lower estimate but they don't say how they got those numbers. https://www.finance-monthly.com/2019/05/how-much-money-has-hbo-made-from-game-of-thrones/ https://www.finance-monthly.com/2019/05/how-much-money-has-h...

comeondude 7y ago

Still stealing. The dude above is freely admitting to grabbing movies wholesale and distributing them in a glib manner. And I’m addressing him, because it’s wrong. I’m the guy on the other end of the economic equation. End of the day it’s a choice to do the right thing and respect the artists behind the work you enjoy regardless what the “reality” is.

ripdog 7y ago
Not even remotely close to stealing. Stealing causes an actual loss to the victim - they owned an item which is worth money, and now they don't. Copyright infringement, OTOH, causes a potential loss to the 'victim'. The copyright industry's propaganda about 'piracy = theft' is based on the frankly absurd concept that anyone who pirates media would have paid for it had piracy not been an option. This claim doesn't hold up to the slighted shred of scrutiny. >End of the day it’s a choice to do the right thing and respect the artists behind the work you enjoy regardless what the “reality” is. Except when you pay money for TV, movies or video games, your money either doesn't go to the artists behind it, or very little of it does. Rather, the money goes to the investors who funded the work, or the publisher contracted with the musician. The real people lacking respect for artists are the publishers/record labels whose entire contribution to the process is making the initial investment, paying artists the bare minimum - and moaning about internet pirates, it seems.
- manigandham 7y ago
  It's not stealing but it is illegal copying. You're gaining the same experience as someone who did pay for it.
  - washadjeffmad 7y ago
    It's unauthorized distribution. You don't get in trouble for copying a licensed work, you get in trouble for making it available to others without permission from the current rights holder (or more likely, their hired thugs or your ISP). How would Fair Use and libraries work if copying alone were illegal?

manigandham 7y ago

Paying for content to consume is a perfectly valid business model and has done extremely well for music and video streaming. It seems that you specifically do not like the deal, which is fine of course, but that doesn't excuse stealing and copying content that you didn't pay for.

Mindwipe 7y ago

> There's a reason iTunes switched to DRM-free formats early on. iTunes has spent the last five years very aggressively moving away from that to subscription revenue because it makes no money.