I see, I misunderstood what you meant then. Obviously if you are going to get the product by some means, it's best for the producer if you pay for it. However,

I see, I misunderstood what you meant then. Obviously if you are going to get the product by some means, it's best for the producer if you pay for it. However, it's important to note that a lot of the content that is consumed for free wouldn't be consumed otherwise. Just because you are not going to pirate something, it doesn't mean you are going to pay for it. And from the producer's side, it's better if his product is consumed than if it isn't, if the distribution and duplication is free. As far as free distribution goes, I don't think it makes a large difference whether or not it's through official or illegal means (though it certainly merits studying and testing). Having your product for free on your website and having it on a torrent site probably both make you a sort of "loss leader" in a very similar way. You may have different costs and the visibility to some demographics may vary, but I doubt it matters much. I just think the benefits of free distribution need to be better weighted. We just have no idea how much companies are losing or winning by having their content pirated.