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Piracy is a service problem. Back in the early 2000s pirates simply offered a better service. The gaming industry understood that and quickly created online ma

by zirgs 3y ago

Piracy is a service problem. Back in the early 2000s pirates simply offered a better service. The gaming industry understood that and quickly created online marketplaces for games. The music industry didn't - and instead of creating Spotify a decade earlier - spent the 2000s trying to sue grandmas who filmed their kids dancing to copyrighted music.

cubefox 3y ago
> Piracy is a service problem. Maybe for two short years until iTunes came out. Then there was no service problem anymore. But CD sales kept collapsing while digital sales were hardly worth noting. Which proves that people loved pirated music because it was free, not because they couldn't buy it. > created online marketplaces for games. The music industry didn't - and instead of creating Spotify a decade earlier - Spotify exists for quite a long while now and revenue still hasn't returned, despite the world economy growing substantially since then, which refutes your theory. Spotify is so cheap because of piracy.
- zirgs 3y ago
  iTunes was not available everywhere. It was officially available in Eastern Europe only around 2011/2012. And in many other countries even later. Around the same time as Spotify which was a lot better service. Before that I could either buy ridiculously overpriced CDs or go to ThePirateBay which was available in my country from day one. So yeah - it absolutely was a service problem. Soon after Spotify appeared I stopped pirating, because Spotify offered a much better service than piracy sites and brick & mortar stores for a reasonable price.
  - cubefox 3y ago
    > Soon after Spotify appeared I stopped pirating, because Spotify offered a much better service than piracy sites and brick & mortar stores for a reasonable price. The fact that revenue still hasn't returned to 1999 levels shows that the price is not "reasonable". They are forced to price it that low because otherwise people would just pirate the music. Many probably still do.
    - RHSeeger 3y ago
      Alternatively, the 1999 levels weren't reasonable. Or the 1999 level isn't reasonably today because there's a LOT more entertainment alternatives vying for attention.

by zirgs 3y ago

cubefox 3y ago

> Piracy is a service problem. Maybe for two short years until iTunes came out. Then there was no service problem anymore. But CD sales kept collapsing while digital sales were hardly worth noting. Which proves that people loved pirated music because it was free, not because they couldn't buy it. > created online marketplaces for games. The music industry didn't - and instead of creating Spotify a decade earlier - Spotify exists for quite a long while now and revenue still hasn't returned, despite the world economy growing substantially since then, which refutes your theory. Spotify is so cheap because of piracy.

zirgs 3y ago
iTunes was not available everywhere. It was officially available in Eastern Europe only around 2011/2012. And in many other countries even later. Around the same time as Spotify which was a lot better service. Before that I could either buy ridiculously overpriced CDs or go to ThePirateBay which was available in my country from day one. So yeah - it absolutely was a service problem. Soon after Spotify appeared I stopped pirating, because Spotify offered a much better service than piracy sites and brick & mortar stores for a reasonable price.
- cubefox 3y ago
  > Soon after Spotify appeared I stopped pirating, because Spotify offered a much better service than piracy sites and brick & mortar stores for a reasonable price. The fact that revenue still hasn't returned to 1999 levels shows that the price is not "reasonable". They are forced to price it that low because otherwise people would just pirate the music. Many probably still do.
  - RHSeeger 3y ago
    Alternatively, the 1999 levels weren't reasonable. Or the 1999 level isn't reasonably today because there's a LOT more entertainment alternatives vying for attention.