YOU WOULDNT STEAL FROM AN OLD LADY!
YOU WOULDNT STEAL A CAR!
YOU WOULDNT BEAT SOMEONE UP!
SO WHY WOULD YOU DOWNLOAD A MOVIE!
I love that advert I see when I'm watching a movie, that I incidently downloaded. There seems to be alot of talk about copywrite
infringement and the such, although it does only seem to be coming from HUGE companies Sony Music, Warner etc that complain it hits
profits. For once in my blog i will try to be informative...not in partial but informative.
My opinion on the subject is that the punishment doesnt exactly fit the crime. I dont see a problem with sharing files, as portable
players are becoming more and more successful this is turning into a need. I also believe though that you should pay for something you
like, I dont quite agree with paying for something I haven't tried. I like shareware cos it gives me a chance to look at the
software before I fork out some cash for it. I hate the Appstore on iPhone, the concept is amazing, downloading games whilst on the
move..fan-fucking-tastic. BUT for companies that dont make a free trial version, I am forced to pay before i've even seen the
software. The only thing to go on is the reviews, and its shown that these cannot be trusted as companies post there own reviews and
give 5 stars! Ratings Scandal
Kills more than 1000 Apps.
The problem with this is the Robin Hood factor, its like stealing from the rich to give to the poor. As an example take a student
learning photography, pretty much the industry standard is to use Adobe Photoshop, lets look at the pricing from Amazon. So Adobe
Photoshop CS4 is ... £569.99 woah, thats alot for someone, I know alot of people are goig to say the Student version is only
£149.99. But lets be honest, you want the best so we're going with this one. Thats alot of dinero. This software can be easily found
for FREE on the net...im sure if you just look.
So thats my general opinion.
After using Google, this is what I found.
Global digital music trade revenues reach US$4.2 billion, up 12% in 2009.
Since 2004 "The Music Industry" increased digital revenues buy 940%, although CD sales dropped by 12%
The problem with this is that i am be selective with the facts. In some places revenue from new artists has dropped, and this has been
put down to piracy. Even some of the sites i read were a little bias either way. Some claimed it had a negative impact globally, some
say locally. It was hard to get to the bottom of this. Mainly because when one profit fell another one rose, for example subscription
based streaming services are more widely available, this impacts as i believe companies wont get as much from royalties than if someone
bought a cd.
So lets look at Hollywood. In 2009, studios made more films and generated more revenue than ever before. US box office gross hit over
$10Billion! When you hear figures like this, you really do think how piracy is KILLING the industry.
A woman was fined $1.9m for illegal downloads...wow you think! she must have been a Music Lord, Running her own shop just selling these
songs on to everyone for a penny. She must have downloaded so much music she has a warehouse full of hard drives! ... not exactly. This
woman who is married with 4 children and works in a low paid job for an indian tribe in Minnesota downloaded a whopping 24 songs! thats
80,000 PER SONG! you've got to be fucking kidding me. That does not fit the crime! Surely! CNN
From this i found some great facts. This section is entitled
7 Crimes that cost less than file sharing!
1. Child abduction (approx. $25,000)
2. Actually stealing the CD from a shop (approx. $2,500)
3. Rob your neighbor (approx. $375,000)
4. Burn a house down: (approx. $375,000)
5. Stalk someone: (approx. $175,000)
6. Start a dogfighting ring: (approx. $50,000)
7. Murder someone: The maximum penalty is only $25,000 and 15 years in jail, and depending on your yearly salary, would probably
be far slighter a penalty that $2 million
*all rough figures dont take as fact...Fines do vary*
What these companies need to relise is that actually most people DONT download. People that do are still going to buy, its a respect
thing. You pay for something you enjoy. By punishing people excessively, its forcing "the people" to rebel and to keep
downloading. The fear factor isnt working, so why not see downloaders as potential customers. Work a little with them.
My next conundrum i saw on a website and this actually got me thinking. The Article
But what about if you own a printed copy of a book and you simply want to read the ebook version? Should you have to pay for a
second copy?
When you download the E-book. Your subsequent downloading is akin to buying a CD, then copying it to your iPod.
Some people agree, some people dont, it varies.
Leave your opinion in the Comments section!
