5 ms·

Awesome. Now we can see if the movie and media industry experience a correlated rise in profits and settle this question whether "piracy" damages these industr

Awesome. Now we can see if the movie and media industry experience a correlated rise in profits and settle this question whether "piracy" damages these industries once and for all.

X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
Yeah it'd be fascinating to see if there is a ROI for the cost of that LE operation and rise in GDP/tax rev
ValentineC 6y ago
I wonder if we'll ever know, with all the Hollywood accounting that goes on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
- gmadsen 6y ago
  wouldn't it be more straight forward to just look at revenue. The weird Hollywood accounting doesn't really matter to the question of 'does piracy significantly affect purchases?.'
- walrus01 6y ago
  Hollywood accounting reminds me of condominium developers and property developers that form a shell LLC for a single project, so that if something goes terribly wrong with the build quality and new-property-warranty lawsuits and such, the entity created for the project has no assets to give up when sued.
analog31 6y ago
The problem is that "the industry" is not a monolith. There are big players with multiple revenue streams that are insulated from the ups and downs of consumer sales. There are smaller players down to individual artists who are just trying to make a living. A better gauge might be the condition of the industry at the lower tiers, all the way down to some musician just trying to sell a few albums to augment their income. It's possible that the "free" content available from the top tier players helps keep the lower tier players from getting ahead in the business. I realize it's not a perfect analogy, but I'm thinking about Microsoft in the 1980s. They made their money from OEM licenses and enterprise sales, while the "free" copies of their software erased any chance of competing with them in the consumer market. Had they done this deliberately to discourage competition, the police would have come knocking at their door.
hesdeadjim 6y ago
At what point have people become so entitled that they think they should be able to consume all the content they want for free because they are slightly inconvenienced by price or availability. If you don't feel like paying, don't watch it. If you don't feel like finding out what service a show is on, don't watch it. If you don't like the fact that you need to subscribe to multiple streaming networks to watch the shows you want to, don't subscribe and don't watch the shows. Having 5 streaming services to subscribe to is still infinitely better than cable. If you think piracy "sticks it to the man", you'd do a better job by not watching a show and not talking about it. Pirating the Mandalorian and gushing about it to friends, family, and the internet just helps Disney. Edit: Please downvote me, I enjoy finding out how many people consider media consumption a fundamental human right instead of the luxury good that it is. Regardless, ask yourself how you'd feel if the film, video game, or book you pirate was made by a close friend. Would you tell them you pirated their product? And if so, why? As a video game creator whose digital games cost nothing to copy and distribute, I can assure you that piracy directly affects my ability to continue making games.
- boomboomsubban 6y ago
  This argument is all over the place. "People are so entitled that they don't even know they're helping companies by pirating their content."
  - hesdeadjim 6y ago
    My argument is far more cogent than any argument in favor of piracy. I can boil down every one one of those arguments, no matter how erudite, to "if I can get something for free, why shouldn't I".
    - boomboomsubban 6y ago
      First, your edits >Regardless, ask yourself how you'd feel if the film, video game, or book you pirate was made by a close friend. Would you tell them you pirated their product? And if so, why? Yes. They didn't create it to brag about how good their ratings were, and pirating their content doesn't mean they aren't getting anything from me, as you yourself mentioned. >As a video game creator whose digital games cost nothing to copy and distribute, I can assure you that piracy directly affects my ability to continue making games No, you can't assure me of that. You can say things but would be unable to provide any proof. >"if I can get something for free, why shouldn't I" Any time anyone buys something they've previously pirated, this argument falls apart. Not that it needs to wait until then, "why am I paying $20 to be advertised to" breaks it too.
robbixcx 6y ago
Sadly, people that cannot download the specific content they wanted will end up watching something else (probably of lesser quality) on a streaming service they already pay for. Indirectly confirming that less piracy equal more people watching legal content

Awesome. Now we can see if the movie and media industry experience a correlated rise in profits and settle this question whether "piracy" damages these industries once and for all.

X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago

Yeah it'd be fascinating to see if there is a ROI for the cost of that LE operation and rise in GDP/tax rev

ValentineC 6y ago

I wonder if we'll ever know, with all the Hollywood accounting that goes on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

gmadsen 6y ago
wouldn't it be more straight forward to just look at revenue. The weird Hollywood accounting doesn't really matter to the question of 'does piracy significantly affect purchases?.'
walrus01 6y ago
Hollywood accounting reminds me of condominium developers and property developers that form a shell LLC for a single project, so that if something goes terribly wrong with the build quality and new-property-warranty lawsuits and such, the entity created for the project has no assets to give up when sued.

analog31 6y ago

The problem is that "the industry" is not a monolith. There are big players with multiple revenue streams that are insulated from the ups and downs of consumer sales. There are smaller players down to individual artists who are just trying to make a living. A better gauge might be the condition of the industry at the lower tiers, all the way down to some musician just trying to sell a few albums to augment their income. It's possible that the "free" content available from the top tier players helps keep the lower tier players from getting ahead in the business. I realize it's not a perfect analogy, but I'm thinking about Microsoft in the 1980s. They made their money from OEM licenses and enterprise sales, while the "free" copies of their software erased any chance of competing with them in the consumer market. Had they done this deliberately to discourage competition, the police would have come knocking at their door.

hesdeadjim 6y ago

At what point have people become so entitled that they think they should be able to consume all the content they want for free because they are slightly inconvenienced by price or availability. If you don't feel like paying, don't watch it. If you don't feel like finding out what service a show is on, don't watch it. If you don't like the fact that you need to subscribe to multiple streaming networks to watch the shows you want to, don't subscribe and don't watch the shows. Having 5 streaming services to subscribe to is still infinitely better than cable. If you think piracy "sticks it to the man", you'd do a better job by not watching a show and not talking about it. Pirating the Mandalorian and gushing about it to friends, family, and the internet just helps Disney. Edit: Please downvote me, I enjoy finding out how many people consider media consumption a fundamental human right instead of the luxury good that it is. Regardless, ask yourself how you'd feel if the film, video game, or book you pirate was made by a close friend. Would you tell them you pirated their product? And if so, why? As a video game creator whose digital games cost nothing to copy and distribute, I can assure you that piracy directly affects my ability to continue making games.

boomboomsubban 6y ago
This argument is all over the place. "People are so entitled that they don't even know they're helping companies by pirating their content."
- hesdeadjim 6y ago
  My argument is far more cogent than any argument in favor of piracy. I can boil down every one one of those arguments, no matter how erudite, to "if I can get something for free, why shouldn't I".
  - boomboomsubban 6y ago
    First, your edits >Regardless, ask yourself how you'd feel if the film, video game, or book you pirate was made by a close friend. Would you tell them you pirated their product? And if so, why? Yes. They didn't create it to brag about how good their ratings were, and pirating their content doesn't mean they aren't getting anything from me, as you yourself mentioned. >As a video game creator whose digital games cost nothing to copy and distribute, I can assure you that piracy directly affects my ability to continue making games No, you can't assure me of that. You can say things but would be unable to provide any proof. >"if I can get something for free, why shouldn't I" Any time anyone buys something they've previously pirated, this argument falls apart. Not that it needs to wait until then, "why am I paying $20 to be advertised to" breaks it too.

robbixcx 6y ago

Sadly, people that cannot download the specific content they wanted will end up watching something else (probably of lesser quality) on a streaming service they already pay for. Indirectly confirming that less piracy equal more people watching legal content