4 ms·

This has been true for 20+ years. The biggest pirates are also the biggest spenders on content. All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing les

This has been true for 20+ years. The biggest pirates are also the biggest spenders on content. All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing less. These media cartels are going the way of the dinosaur anyway, both with AI generation supplanting them in the next decade (Alexa, generate a crossover episode of SVU and the X-Files), and 'piracy' being normalized with each new generation.

MPSimmons 3y ago
>All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing less. I always assumed it was about control, given how media companies constantly attempt to provide alternative methods of distributing media, though only within their very narrow definitions, and how they fight so hard against anything that breaks their control. CSS, Sony's CD root kit, HDCP, etc etc etc
billy99k 3y ago
"All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing less." I disagree. Big movie studios can write off piracy, but independent movie studios, with much smaller budgets, can't. It's the same in the music industry. I knew lots of independent artists in the early 2000s that basically had no career after Napster because nobody would buy their music anymore (but those same people continued to download/listen to it). They also couldn't tour to make a living, because large companies control all of the major venues. Piracy has forced independent artists to go to large studios to make a living, contributing to the enshitification of the current state of music (and movies).
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  Small movie studios, if they make good content, people will go and pay to see. It's no different. If people pirate it, word of mouth spreads and people will go and see it. No one really buys music anyway, artists make most of their money from shows. Sharing is normal behavior, the whole concept of piracy as stealing is bananas. No one has a right to charge for every single copy of something in existence, not when it can be easily duplicated. It's entirely at odds with human nature.
  - billy99k 3y ago
    "No one really buys music anyway, artists make most of their money from shows." In the 90s, artists COULD make money from music. Especially independent artists. Piracy changed all that and forced artists to only make money from shows, which are controlled by large companies.
    - PrimeMcFly 3y ago
      I disagree. Piracy didn't have the negative affect you think it did. Study after study shows piracy only helps to boost sales. Those artists are blaming piracy when really it's more likely to do with a shift to streaming and those artists not having the skills to have a strong online presence once physical media started dying out. There's a strong correlation between the death of record stores and these independent artists starting to lose money. And besides, in modern day we have more independent artists than ever making money.
- coremoff 3y ago
  I think this is making the mistake of conflating piracy with lost sales; there is only so much money to go around, and saying that a pirated view is lost revenue is missing the point that that person was never going to pay for that particular content anyway. From a music perspective we have too much music; we have decades of history to stream, and each year more and more is released - ultimately only a few people will be able to sustain themselves with streaming revenue, and indipendent acts will need to survive with live acts and merch until they break through (or accept that they arne't going to become superstars). Because the potential upside is so huge, many people are willing to gamble on that, much as people buy lottery tickets. Most people will be disapointed.
  - billy99k 3y ago
    "I think this is making the mistake of conflating piracy with lost sales; there is only so much money to go around, and saying that a pirated view is lost revenue is missing the point that that person was never going to pay for that particular content anyway." Piracy isn't theft. It's counterfeiting, which is much worse than theft. If we allowed everyone to counterfeit the dollar and use it, the value would head toward $0 over time. It's the same with all digital goods. Where else should we apply this logic? If a large company uses GPL/Gnu software in their proprietary application, should we say that there was nothing lost because they wouldn't have shared the code anyway? When AI gets good enough in the future, should companies be allowed to use the likeness of someone for free? After all, nothing of value was lost, right? "From a music perspective we have too much music; we have decades of history to stream, and each year more and more is released - ultimately only a few people will be able to sustain themselves with streaming revenue, and independent acts will need to survive with live acts and merch until they break through (or accept that they aren't going to become superstars)." Streaming is only the norm because of piracy. It's the same with software. Everyone is making software a service. Why? You can't pirate it. This was pretty easy to predict 10+ years ago.
    - skyyler 3y ago
      >If we allowed everyone to counterfeit the dollar and use it, the value would head toward $0 over time. It's the same with all digital goods. I disagree. Dollars are only useful for their value. Movies, music, and games are enjoyable to "use".
hcks 3y ago
> All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing less You mean the crying and the greed of the people that don’t want to pay to see movies right
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  No lol. The crying and greed of the corporations that think the world ends if someone downloads a movie that they either did pay for, will pay for in the future, or would not have paid for anyway. The 'lost sale' fallacy. Surely you didn't really let those "you wouldn't steal a car" propaganda films get to you?
karmakaze 3y ago
The y-axis scales on that uber-aggregate chart is telling--all that crying is over 1/4 of 1%.

MPSimmons 3y ago

>All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing less. I always assumed it was about control, given how media companies constantly attempt to provide alternative methods of distributing media, though only within their very narrow definitions, and how they fight so hard against anything that breaks their control. CSS, Sony's CD root kit, HDCP, etc etc etc

billy99k 3y ago

"All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing less." I disagree. Big movie studios can write off piracy, but independent movie studios, with much smaller budgets, can't. It's the same in the music industry. I knew lots of independent artists in the early 2000s that basically had no career after Napster because nobody would buy their music anymore (but those same people continued to download/listen to it). They also couldn't tour to make a living, because large companies control all of the major venues. Piracy has forced independent artists to go to large studios to make a living, contributing to the enshitification of the current state of music (and movies).

PrimeMcFly 3y ago
Small movie studios, if they make good content, people will go and pay to see. It's no different. If people pirate it, word of mouth spreads and people will go and see it. No one really buys music anyway, artists make most of their money from shows. Sharing is normal behavior, the whole concept of piracy as stealing is bananas. No one has a right to charge for every single copy of something in existence, not when it can be easily duplicated. It's entirely at odds with human nature.
- billy99k 3y ago
  "No one really buys music anyway, artists make most of their money from shows." In the 90s, artists COULD make money from music. Especially independent artists. Piracy changed all that and forced artists to only make money from shows, which are controlled by large companies.
  - PrimeMcFly 3y ago
    I disagree. Piracy didn't have the negative affect you think it did. Study after study shows piracy only helps to boost sales. Those artists are blaming piracy when really it's more likely to do with a shift to streaming and those artists not having the skills to have a strong online presence once physical media started dying out. There's a strong correlation between the death of record stores and these independent artists starting to lose money. And besides, in modern day we have more independent artists than ever making money.
coremoff 3y ago
I think this is making the mistake of conflating piracy with lost sales; there is only so much money to go around, and saying that a pirated view is lost revenue is missing the point that that person was never going to pay for that particular content anyway. From a music perspective we have too much music; we have decades of history to stream, and each year more and more is released - ultimately only a few people will be able to sustain themselves with streaming revenue, and indipendent acts will need to survive with live acts and merch until they break through (or accept that they arne't going to become superstars). Because the potential upside is so huge, many people are willing to gamble on that, much as people buy lottery tickets. Most people will be disapointed.
- billy99k 3y ago
  "I think this is making the mistake of conflating piracy with lost sales; there is only so much money to go around, and saying that a pirated view is lost revenue is missing the point that that person was never going to pay for that particular content anyway." Piracy isn't theft. It's counterfeiting, which is much worse than theft. If we allowed everyone to counterfeit the dollar and use it, the value would head toward $0 over time. It's the same with all digital goods. Where else should we apply this logic? If a large company uses GPL/Gnu software in their proprietary application, should we say that there was nothing lost because they wouldn't have shared the code anyway? When AI gets good enough in the future, should companies be allowed to use the likeness of someone for free? After all, nothing of value was lost, right? "From a music perspective we have too much music; we have decades of history to stream, and each year more and more is released - ultimately only a few people will be able to sustain themselves with streaming revenue, and independent acts will need to survive with live acts and merch until they break through (or accept that they aren't going to become superstars)." Streaming is only the norm because of piracy. It's the same with software. Everyone is making software a service. Why? You can't pirate it. This was pretty easy to predict 10+ years ago.
  - skyyler 3y ago
    >If we allowed everyone to counterfeit the dollar and use it, the value would head toward $0 over time. It's the same with all digital goods. I disagree. Dollars are only useful for their value. Movies, music, and games are enjoyable to "use".

hcks 3y ago

> All the crying about piracy is greed: nothing more, nothing less You mean the crying and the greed of the people that don’t want to pay to see movies right

PrimeMcFly 3y ago
No lol. The crying and greed of the corporations that think the world ends if someone downloads a movie that they either did pay for, will pay for in the future, or would not have paid for anyway. The 'lost sale' fallacy. Surely you didn't really let those "you wouldn't steal a car" propaganda films get to you?

karmakaze 3y ago

The y-axis scales on that uber-aggregate chart is telling--all that crying is over 1/4 of 1%.