Surprise! The War On Movie Piracy Isn't Working
from the guess-what's-next dept
Software companies and their shill groups have been spreading around reports on the "cost" of piracy, which are made bogus by their assumption that every pirated copy of software equates to a lost sale, which simply isn't the case. Now, the MPAA has joined the fun, saying piracy costs it $6.1 billion a year. That's 75% more than previous figures, and the study was even supposed to account for people who were watching pirated films they wouldn't otherwise pay for. The MPAA didn't want to release the study, and it's little wonder why: doing so would not only call into question its previous research, but also be a tacit admission that its "war" on piracy is failing, and failing badly. But, of course, there's a flip side to this. Instead of waking up and realizing that the answer is changing their business models to reflect the changing times, they'll use the figures to run to Washington (or some other world capital) and get their Congressional lapdogs to expand copyright laws and give pirates more stringent punishments, since current laws "aren't working". Oh wait -- they're already doing that. The entertainment industry's misguided strategy, reliant on legislation and litigation, is only succeeding at one thing: turning customers into criminals. The industry is fighting a losing battle, and nothing will change until it puts a higher priority on reforming its business models than it does on locking down content and locking up pirates.
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Re:
Besides, the recording industry is *based* on a type of piracy. They take a musicians work and make copies and sell the copies while cheating them out of as much as possible. Furthermore, the reason they are based on the west coast was becasue they fled the east coast courts 100 years ago to avoid paying Edison on his sound and movie patents! Seriously, go look it up.
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*shocked*
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It's bad enough...
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Re: It's bad enough...
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Re: It's bad enough...
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Just like the war on drugs
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Alternative
Check out theses guys, a bit insane but entertaining. rantmedia
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Hey...
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Re: Hey...
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Re: Hey...
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Re: Hey...
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prices are too high
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So what?
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Re: So what?
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Re: So what?
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the current business model is flawed beyond repair
I bought one bootleg for War of the Worlds because the movie trailer didn't convince me it was a good movie...my initial response to the film was correct so I don't feel bad wasting 5 dollars on a movie I will never watch again.
Between over inflated movie prices and poor quality films why are they wondering why consumers aren't going to the movies? It isn't because we are going out and buying bootlegs they just can't maintain our interest anymore for the price they are trying to make us pay.
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Re: the current business model is flawed beyond re
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Re: the current business model is flawed beyond re
The other thing about good movies is people will go out and see them. My friend burns films, but he will often go three or four times to the theatre for a good film.
Last I counted they had 32 remakes in the last few years. NO FREAKING wonder no one is goin g to the movies.
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Re: the current business model is flawed beyond re
The truth is, what the MP/RIAA is really fighting to protect is the power to market people into buying their products, instead of consumers spending their money on quality.
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Dubba Books
In a way, I think it's high time we gave the MPAA the troll treatment - ignore them, don't feed them, and maybe they'll go away?
I know, wishful thinking....
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I'll wait a bit and see - but it looks like Hollywood's following the exact same path. Which is typical of them. Not like there's any recent movies that have really been good anyway. The lack of innovation they have in making movies is clearly going to mirror itself in their business model as well.
They can use the same "business model" the RIAA is using now. And it will amount to even less profits.
Good idea - Piss off the people who are willing to pay for movies...
Maybe, they should quit trying so hard to rake consumers for cash.
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Re:
Wouldn't that actually be rape!?
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Re:
you see there's this new thing called iTunes....where you can buy legit music from all the major labels as well as indie bands. After you download them (assuming you know how to, right? ) you put them on this music device called an "iPod". Check it out, it's the latest thing... ; )
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Yeah, so move. Oh, wait...then there will be too many a-holes there too! :P
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Re:
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Re:
A friendly concearned Canadian against poor starving artists...
I feel realy bad knowing that poor [put actors name here] can't buy a new car/house for their collections.
I worry about paying rent and putting food on the table...
Not how much cocaine I can snort in one night and live. Or which island I would like to buy next to escape all the A-holes. :) oh the hard life of stars and rich business people.... How about share the damn wealth you greedy bastards and someone might give a flying F#**@ if you starve or not.
just a thought...
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Re: by keith
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RE: the current business model is flawed beyond re
We can't go without fuel or food but boycotting the Music/Movie industry is doable. We just need for someone to organize it and get the word out.
Let's pick a date, say July 4th (Independence from bad movies/music/treating customers like crooks day!) and don't buy anything from the music/movie industry for a month (until August 4th). Let's see how long it takes them to wake up to the fact that we're tried of having crap shoved to us that we pay for and then can't use as we want.
So pass the word - NO music/movie purchases between July 4th and August 4th. Hit them where it hurts and see how quickly they fix their business model!
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Re: RE: the current business model is flawed beyon
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Re:
Why? Do you think its stealing if you dont pay some other service money for an mp3?
This bugs me as much as RIAA suing people. There are people that actually let themselves be convinced that downloading an mp3 for free is wrong/stealing. Dont be sheep to the wolves people.
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Poor studios...
C'mon, guys, have a heart! The movie studios have made a dime in profit, ever. Just ask anyone who made a deal to get paid a percentage of net profit. They always make sure there's absolutely no net.
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Re: Poor studios...
Yeah, hollywood, mpaa, riaa (mafiaa) are all corrupt cartels who deserve to be broken up, and placed in prison for a long long time.
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SCREW THEM
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Re: SCREW THEM
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Sorry I don't buy it, litterally
The idea that Hollywood is losing $6 billion a year from piracy is a JOKE. What really is happening is that Hollywood can no longer STEAL $6 billion from customers who would otherwise unknowingly buy, rent or pay a ticket to see one of the hundreds of crappy movies Hollywood flings out every month. When these customers download a movie, it just proves they were justified for not paying a dime for it in the first place.
Hollywood is staying "Don't Steal Movies", my message to Hollywood, "Stop stealing OUR MONEY!".
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Re: Sorry I don't buy it, litterally
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being of the opinion
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Re: being of the opinion
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Re: Re: being of the opinion
I'm interested in why you think the movie/music industry could sue. On what grounds? Why can't consumers group together to say enough is enough?
I was about to say this is still a free country but that's becoming less and less true statement every day.
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how to get blood from a DVD
You love a movie and buy it; 6 months later the company puts out the "super ultra deluxe special director's cut" and like a good sucker you buy it.
6 months later after that, they come out with the "oops, we forgot (nudge, nudge wink wink say no more) to include these deleted scenes fancy pants box director's dog's favorite unrated scenes cut", and while pissed, you buy it vowing to never buy another DVD again.
6 months after that, they release the "seriously, the last edition you'll ever need to buy ultrawide oops we forgot to remaster it last time and add DTS 5.1 final edition"
Give me Netflix and DVD Decrypter anyday...
J
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V for Vendetta
The trailers made it out as a hack 'n slash action movie but it was so much better.
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I downloaded a cam (ugh) of it first and watched it at home. I liked it so much I went out and took some friends to go see it again in the IMAX theater downtown.
Eat that MPAA... You just MADE $30 from online piracy. Betcha not going to count that in your figures.
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Where do they get the $6 billion figure
Are they getting this number by saying "20 people downloaded a movie instead of paying $10, so that COST us $200"?
The fallacy of this calculation is this: How many of those downloaders will actually go spend $10 to see to see the movie or pay $15 for the CD?
How many of those downloaders will even watch the movie? A lot of them may simply download the movie just for bragging rights to say they have it.
Does the MPAA even account for the people who download a movie, watch it on their 15 inch monitor, and then pay to go see it again on the large screen in the theaters?
How many of those downloaders will rent the DVD later? Hmm... $5 for a DVD rental where 5 people can watch it at the same time- that's $1 per person... far short of the $50 that a theater would take in.
Maybe the MPAA should go after NetFlix for keeping people out of the theaters.
How many of these downloaders will wait for the movie to come on cable TV or network TV, where they can see it for free?
(Yes, the networks pay big money to show popular movies, but I seriously doubt the MPAA factors this income into their $6 billion "loss".)
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Free and legal alternatives
I run a vidcast that caters to old MST3K fans and people who used to watch monster movie hosts on UHF. I play free movies! why pay the MPAA and the RIAA. Screw em.
Come check out the world of vidcasts http://www.cultofuhf.com
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Yeah
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Lots of speculation
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BUY INDIE FILMS!!!!!!
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FREE
NO Copyright protection
EASIER to get than legal stuff
More choice with pirated material
Yet no one except Apple understand this and is making profit from it. Let Apple do it with video soon, it'll happen. Mark my words. RIAA and MPAA is hindering advances in technology and distribution, no helping it. If they want to help piracy, stop getting in the way....step back, let people innovate and spend money on ways to enhance paid material, no sueing people who do pirate.
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The War On Movie Piracy Isn't Working
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Pay me for wasting my time.
4 years ago, I used to go to concerts, $35 for the ticket seemed like a good deal. Now, $125.
Has the quality improved so much that they can justify the inflation? No. Movies suck these days, music also sucks. It's all 'cleaned up' and made 'perfect' and ends up being like the one before it.
I want the MPAA to give me money for wasting my time with crap American produced movies that are advertised as "The best movie of the century!" etc.
I'll pay $5 for a rip, I'll watch it, then I'll never watch it again. Because the quality is poor. Not because it's a bad rip, but because I am sick and tired of seeing Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts and all the other over-used actors, either shooting people, or making a stupid joke.
I propose a class action against the MPAA for false advertising of the quality of movies.
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Hello, reality check?
"Nobody goes to the theatres anymore, we're going bankrupt!" - WELL WHO CARES? I'll tell you something... The theatres over here are AWFUL! The picture quality sucks, the popcorn tastes like crap, people spit food at you while eating behind your back and laughing their guts out at the same time, mobile phones are ringin' at their maximum volume... Need I go on?
And as for the DVDs they sell around small shops over here at EXTREMELY LOW PRICES ARE BULLCRAP TOO! "Wow, the price looks good", you say? Well, think again... Some DVDs you buy don't even work at all! If it works, then you have to deal with the disgusting plastic packaging that wears off after 10 openings! What else, hm... Well, after actually trying to play the movie, you have to wait until the damn "WARNING! THIS MOVIE IS PROTECTED BY... yada yada yada" message stops playing and for the 2-3 ADVERTISMENTS they put in before the movie actually starts! (And, no, you can't use Fast-Forward here...)
So, why are we buying cheap, low quality DivX CDs or downloading them illegally through torrents? Now you now...
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Re: So What?
Are you to stupid to be able to form a rational response which doesn't contain explicitives or recial slurs?
Give me break.
Also, I download CDs with BitTorent listen to them, If i like them I buy them. Simple. They aren't loosing any money at all as how are they loosing money on something i wasn't even going to buy? :S
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Movies, big music etc, is dead. Have a nice day. Next to die, america itself. GF Riddane.
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Re:
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Countersue them!!
Pirate Type, from Norway (so they can't get me!)
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Countersue them!!
Pirate Type, from Norway (they can't get me!)
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And I have zero faith in our 'elected' government to change anything for the common good at all, any more.
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Not Necessarily
And of course the whole MPAA/ RIAA scare isn't working, because there ARE those of us that have what's known as common damn sense when it comes to what we download, and whether we choose to sell what we download to other people or not. I would NEVER sell anything I download off the 'net because it's not mine to sell, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't give someone a CD if they wanted me to make one for them, or if someone had a CD I wanted and they let me borrow it so I could make my own copy. It's no different than when people used to make recordings on analog tape, or when people would borrow record albums and record them, is it? No it's not. Cased closed, end of discussion.
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Why?
And I will buy it
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Internet Piracy is Not the Problem
Yes, Blockbuster and Netflix with their DVD rental via mail, THAT is killing their profits. Who buys DVDs when you can get 50 of them in a month for $14.99 and copy them at a cost of $0.50 each. I know that fact put me out of business.
So the MPAA needs to go after the people making illegal copies of rentals, not the occassional download of a crappy copy of a film.
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Legal music for free plus great quality
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solution: arabia
Even though there is some compassion for the few moviemakers out there in Hollywood who were able to make good movies, such as london, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and a few others i find it extremely rediculous that you have to pay more money to own it than to just see it.
The way i see it, movies and music should be peices of art, and if they arent and are just worthless. No one should pay ANYTHING to see it, if that is so, you are paying to see worthless crap. In my world, i can do anything i please, No record company is going to threaten me with a lawsuit that came from a owner of a movie studio that finances the making of low rated, unfunny, untalented, crap. if this is the world we live in then id rather not watch anything at all or listen to the bullshit they have on the radio called "music".
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want to start downloads
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What did they write off in taxes?
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Amen!
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I'm Game
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BOYCOTT!!!!!!
movie and audio labels to stop it. every year millions are brought to court to
pay huge loads of money just to compinsate for "illegally" viewing a small
movie or playing a song that might not even popularly last for a month. But
this year...2006, it will all change, a boycott of original movie and music
products (DVDS, VHS and CDs) etc will be boycotted by who ever wishes to do so
to prove to movie studios and music labels that WE are the customers and WE
make them who they are. it shall start on the 4th of July and hopefully end on
4th of August. i sure hope you participate in this (hoped to be) global event.
for more send or add this email "sandbomb_bc@hotmail.com". thank you for your
time and i hope you spread the word.
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Scare Tactics
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Creative Commons Blog
O'Reilly Licensing Book, Licensed
I just noticed that Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing, published last year by O'Reilly, is now available as a no cost download under a Creative Commons license. The book includes a chapter (PDF) on Creative Commons licenses.
Thanks O'Reilly and Andrew St. Laurent, the book's author!
Via Slashdot.
Submitted by Mike Linksvayer on 2005-01-31 05:41 PM.
World Live (and Licensed) Web
Kevin Marks mentioned on the cc-metadata list that you can query Technorati for a list of recently syndicated content, grouped by Creative Commons license.
You can also drill down and get a list of recently syndicated content under a specific Creative Commons license.
The results are a bit rough now, but one can easily imagine combining license searches with keyword and other search filters to effect an ongoing search for specific licensed content. For example, tell me whenever a Creative Commons licensed image of horses is syndicated.
Marks, who works at Technorati, indicates this sort of capability is "an important future direction." Other blog and search outfits take note.
(Glenn found the beautiful horse image linked above via the Creative Commons search engine.)
Submitted by Mike Linksvayer on 2005-01-31 05:01 PM.
Read. Listen. Watch. Buckman.
All Creative Commons radio show Staccato's episode 7 features an interview with Magnatune record label founder John Buckman, our current featured commoner interview. Also check out a San Francisco television interview with Buckman and Magnatune artist Artemis.
MP3s of all 326 Magnatune-published albums are CC licensed. Listen.
Submitted by Mike Linksvayer on 2005-01-29 12:37 PM.
Rip. Sample. Mash. Countdown.
Since we noticed sta(cc)ato another CC radio show has started: The Revolution. After three regular shows, the Revolution is already producing a special: Rip. Sample. Mash. Countdown. Each week until the Freestyle Mix and Militia Mix contests end (February 12), the Revolution will play new entries that have been rated four stars (of five) or higher by the CC Mixter community.
Listen now.
Submitted by Mike Linksvayer on 2005-01-29 12:27 PM.
CBC Radio 3 Chooses CC as a Top Issue
CBC Radio 3 has chosen Creative Commons Canada as 5th of 100 contemporary issues facing Canadians today.
Submitted by Anonymous on 2005-01-27 05:27 PM.
Ready to Share (Pret a Partager)
Here's a great idea: A conference that compares how creativity is regulated in fashion versus how it's regulated in other art forms. In fashion, copyright (among other things) is pretty laissez-faire compared to, say, music or film.
On January 29, 2005, the Norman Lear Center will hold a landmark event on fashion and the ownership of creativity. Ready to Share will explore the fashion industry's enthusiastic embrace of sampling, appropriation and borrowed inspiration, core components of every creative process. Presented by the Lear Center's Creativity, Commerce & Culture project, and sponsored by The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM, this groundbreaking conference will feature scholarly debate, fashion shows, multimedia presentations, the clash of perspectives and the cross-fertilization of ideas.
If you're in Los Angeles this weekend, come see designer Tom Ford, musician Dangermouse, techie John Seely Brown, musician and producer T-Bone Burnett, and other giants of the various corners of the creative world talk about the fine art of sampling, across disciplines.
Or, check out the webcast at 9am PST January 29.
Submitted by Glenn Otis Brown on 2005-01-26 08:08 PM.
A Great Scene From iCommons
We just got this great photo of the Wissenschaftskolleg conference from Christiane, our International Commons Project Coordinator, whom you can see there in the background. Featured in the foreground is Professor Ricolfi, Creative Commons Legal Project Lead from Italy, and to the right of him is Professor Jürgen Renn, Director of the Max Planck Institute for History of Science. On the very right, is Professor Lessig. Photo by Olivier Menanteau.
Submitted by Anonymous on 2005-01-26 07:53 PM.
At Sundance
I'll be on a panel on Digital Rights Management tomorrow at high noon at the Sundance Film Festival.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a key issue for any company that controls content or has a library it wants to exploit. Balancing issues of copyright/privacy versus profit is no small challenge. In the new digital age, is it possible to leverage content and maximize profit only when a top-notch DRM system is in place? The music industry learned its lesson the hard way with Napster; the film industry doesn't want to make the same mistake, but still finds itself fighting multimillion-dollar antipiracy lawsuits year after year. How will the newest state-of-the-art DRM software change how we deliver movies? Come hear from the experts, and find out what's on the horizon for the moviegoing (and book-reading) public. Moderated by Walter S. Mossberg, personal technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
Watch for Creative Commons sightings on Defamer.
Submitted by Glenn Otis Brown on 2005-01-26 07:52 PM.
Featured Commoner: Magnatune
Magnatune provides "Internet music without the guilt." Based in Berkeley, California, Magnatune is a record label with a 21st Century business model, offering consumers a unique mix of free and paid music. One of the first for-profit companies to adopt Creative Commons' copyright licenses into its strategy, Magnatune has amassed both an impressive buzz and a large artist roster. We recently spoke with Magnatune founder and CEO John Buckman about the music company's progress and plans, and how going "some rights reserved" can boost the bottom line.
Submitted by Glenn Otis Brown on 2005-01-24 02:31 PM.
CC on the charts
Ok, #9 on the Toronto Eye's Anti-Hit List, with very some cool company. It's a start!
Here's the Eye's pick on CC Mixter: fake french [le tigre est fatigué], featuring samples from several WIRED CD tracks.
It's about discovery now.
Submitted by Mike Linksvayer on 2005-01-20 04:53 PM.
Australia Launch and River Boat Cruise
Over the last few days, I had the honor of attending the Creative Commons Australia launch which was celebrated by a two-day Creative Commons conference at the Queensland University of Technology Law School. The conference, entitled Open Content Licensing (OCL): Cultivating the Creative Commons, was well attended by many of Australia's influencial thinkers in government, technology, the arts, and law. Brian Fitzgerald, head of iCommons Australia, and his many colleagues, put together an amazing crash course in Creative Commons, as well as the context from which we've emerged. It seemed that conference attendees left excited about the potential for Creative Commons to work within the Australian cultural environment.
Most exciting about this conference, was to see how energetic everyone was about Creative Commons, both in support, and in criticism -- the mere fact that people felt so strongly about it was truly inspiring. I also had the pleasure of attending the first official Creative Commons river boat cruise -- leave it to the Australians to show you a good time! Below are some images from the event and the cruise:
A scene from a conference lecture:
Head of iCommons Australia, Brian Fitzgerald, with conference organizers and Creative Commons researches, Cher Barlett and Amanda Campion:
Michael May, conference organizer and Creative Commons researcher (sporting a CC shirt and enjoying a beer):
A scene from the boat:
The other boat, which looked like our boat (taken with my new digital camera that I obviously don't know how to use very well yet):
Submitted by Anonymous on 2005-01-19 05:32 PM.
CC Italy Launch Report
Juan Carlos De Martin writes in with a report on last month's Creative Commons Italy launch:
The Italian CC Licenses were launched in Turin on December 16th, with a conference at the Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli. Over 100 people crowded the attractive conference room of the Fondazione, with several journalists in attendance to cover the event.
The first part of the program prepared by the iCommons Italy Affiliate Institutions (University of Turin Law School and IEIIT-CNR) coordinated by the Italian project lead, prof. Marco Ricolfi, consisted of presentations by Lawrence Lessig, who eloquently explained the conceptual foundations of CC, and by Christiane Asschenfeldt, who reported on the state of the art of the iCommons project.
Marco Ricolfi then spoke about the process that produced the Italian CC licenses, highlighting among the other things that like elsewhere in Europe there is a need for some adjustments to the role of collecting societies to second the growing desire of authors to distribute their works more freely. Juan Carlos De Martin, a computer engineering researcher with IEIIT-CNR, provided an overview of the CC technical challenges and stressed the role of technology in enabling the 'Some Rights Reserved' vision in cyberspace.
Talks that followed the lively discussion session were a selection of the many proposals submitted in response to a call made by the organizers back in October 2004.
The presentations touched a wide range of topics, including the relationship between free software and CC licenses (Alessandro Rubini), Radiodrome - a student web radio experiment at the Politecnico di Torino (Puria Nafisi and Jovi Berton), and a report on work in progress on CC in a country next door to Italy, Slovenia (Maja Bogataj Jançiç). The conference ended with the words of an artist from another neighboring country, France: Dominique, lead singer of the free rock group Godon, explained why Godon chose CC licenses to release their music on their web site. For a complete list of all the talks, see the site of the event, where most presentations (in English) will be available shortly.
The event was webcast live by IEIIT-CNR, using its free streaming software, the Open Media Streaming project, which supports handling of CCPL licensing metadata.
After the conference, attendees were invited to move to the near-by Imbarco Perosino, an attractive venue right on the backs of the Po river, for a celebratory "aperitivo", followed by a "Creative Christmas" party that lasted into the night.
Submitted by Mike Linksvayer on 2005-01-19 12:44 PM.
Wired on Open Source Biology
An interesting article from Wired on the folks at Biological Innovation for Open Society (BIOS), a group in Australia advocating an open-source approach to biology. I know the folks at BIOS and recommend you poke around their site if you're interested in open biology.
Here's the story; it's a good read.
One point, which is actually pretty major, of contention. We see Science Commons described as being in a supposed "battle" with the biotechnology companies of the world.
This is a perception that Science Commons will have to work against - the idea that, by advocating voluntary changes to inefficient systems, we are somehow "against" the companies pursuing scientific innovation. It's just not
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movie piracy
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