What To Do When Artists Who Otherwise 'Get It' Freak Out Over 'Piracy'
from the wait-it-out dept
A few weeks ago, reader cofiem sent over a blog post from musician Darren Hayes complaining about recording studios shutting down and blaming "piracy" for it. This morning, our submissions engine is getting overwhelmed with submissions about Wil Wheaton's rant against someone who posted a copy of Wheaton's audiobook, saying the guy is "stealing" from him.Of course, we see content creators complaining about "piracy" or falsely claiming that it's "stealing" all the time -- but these two cases are slightly different. They're both cases where the content creators seem to be folks who otherwise actually do seem to "get it." They both do an amazing job connecting with fans, and setting up smart "reasons to buy." Hayes, for example, created a DVD "collectors' item" to go with his latest album. And he has a fan club setup, that encourages fans to pay a small fee to get all sorts of valuable (scarce) extras, beyond just the music. Wil Wheaton, of course, has been online for ages, and really interacts with lots of fans, and when he released his audiobook he made it cheap and didn't put DRM on it at all.
In other words, these are both the sort of content creators who are doing all the kinds of "right moves" that we talk about all the time, and seem to be getting rewarded for it. So, of course, it's disappointing to see them overreact and go a bit on the ballistic side when they see people sharing their works in some format -- but it's not that surprising. It's a perfectly natural reaction if you're not immersed that deeply in thinking through the long term implications of these things to simply not like it when people treat your works in a way other than you intended. There's nothing really wrong with that.
However, the question then comes up about what should be done about it. How do you respond to such people? It seems the smartest thing to do is to openly explain the other side of the coin: how these efforts can be embraced to further all of the really smart things that these content creators have already done. It's about getting them to realize that as scary as "the new world" is, one of the things they have to come to accept is that they can't necessarily control what others end up doing with their works. They can't dictate the terms by which fans will be fans. But, what they can do is try to put in place systems and models that benefit them when such things happen. Use that free sharing to encourage people to become stronger, more committed fans, and open up new places and opportunities to potentially offer them a reason to buy -- on their terms -- down the road.
It's never a huge surprise when someone who hasn't thought through this stuff carefully starts ranting about pirates and "stealing." But when it's someone who otherwise seems to get it, the situation is more one of disappointment. However, in most cases, those folks are at least open to listening to reason, and listening to their community, who can explain back to them ways in which they can benefit, rather than complain or blame. And, in fact, with Hayes, it looks like he took some of his community's words to heart and noted that there can be future models where "piracy" isn't necessarily a huge problem (though he's still unsure of how it works). Hopefully Wil Wheaton will listen to his community as well -- and let them point out how many other authors who have put their works online for free have seen that it tends to increase their fan community and increase sales over time.
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Filed Under: business models, darren hayes, piracy, wil wheaton
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I doubt it. His position is pretty much, 'Yeah, you *can* do that. But you shouldn't. Because then you'd be a dick."
So, yes, you can get a free copy of Wil's book, but the price is dickatude. I'm pretty irreverent when it comes to 'piracy,' but I don't want to end up on that side of Wil's ledger.
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If I was a nice guy I'd ask an artist who doesn't "get it" if I could put their stuff on bit torrent, but if the artist "gets it" then I'd think he/she'd already be okay with it.
Looks like he didn't get what he thought he got.
PS- I am not a nice guy.
PPS- I have not been paid, or otherwise compensated, for this comment.
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Well I don't know, it probably involves some sort of intensive reeducation, likely involving electroshock therapy, at the very least. </sarcasm>
Geez, get a grip. And you accuse *them* of overreacting? It is possible, you know, for reasonable people to disagree at times, cut them some slack for not enabling you to say "See, they agree too. We're right again, go us!"
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I have kept up with Wil's blogs on and off for a few years and agree that he is one of the ones that gets it. His blog about someone posting his content for free was well done. He (for the most part) does not rail against his fans who would like the free material. He is very careful NOT to call out the other site and drive traffic there and he reminds everyone that he is trying to make a living.
What has happened today? The social media sites have picked up the story and drove a huge amount of traffic to his site. Millions of people are going to find out that Wil has a new audiobook out there (I certainly didn't know) and now reddit and others are starting drives to support Wil by purchasing his audiobook on his site.
So even though I don't think he calculated this approach, he is going to benefit greatly from his blog against the guy posting his book. So I think he still gets it.
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If by "nice" you mean "inaccurate".
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No. You are inaccurate. Taking something that's not yours without permission IS stealing, which is also called piracy. What worse, the dude who stole the material is making a profit, which could get him in prison, given copyright law, which dictates that though it's okay to download something for your own pleasure, you're not supposed to give it away others if it's not something you own. That warning is shown as a disclaimer in front of TV shows, movies, and various other mediums all of the time and it still stands to this day.
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Er?
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Wil Wheaton...
If you think Wil has over-reacted then you've got no understanding of human emotion. You CAN'T ask creators not to get annoyed by people who pirate their works. It's not reasonable.
And you can't expect them to just let it blow over them and go on. When you get annoyed, you have to let off steam somehow. And Will did it by calling a pirate a pirate in public.
Will this make one whit of difference to the actions of the jerk in question? Probably not. Does that matter to Wil? Probably not. Now that he's said his piece, I expect that he'll go right on with all of the cool stuff he does that connects him to his fans.
You probably need to cool down just a little - taking everyone to task publicly for every incorrect use of the word steal is not really necessary.
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Re: Wil Wheaton...
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Re: Wil Wheaton...
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Re: Re: Wil Wheaton...
"There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling!"
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Re: Re: Wil Wheaton...
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Link confirms your arguement
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10369956-27.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
A very low percentage of artist are making money from CDs or from downloads. Matt Rosoff's advice is for artist to not "worry about devaluing your recordings by selling them cheap or giving them away--worry about getting enough fans to hear them so they'll be interested in coming to your shows, and dragging a few friends with them. "
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Right
Me too and here is why. Using this same "reasoning", if I go to the library and "walk out with the book under my jacket", Will doesnt get paid either. If I buy it, how many times will I listen to any given audiobook? Lets say 5 times before I either sell it, give it away, or never listen to it again. If I go to the library instead those 5 times and check it out, I have now "stolen" from Will (or whomever). See the problem with these rationalizations? They just lead to bigger and bigger exaggerations of what is happening, sounding sillier and sillier the more loudly they are proclaimed.
And dont tell me its just semantics either. These big media companies spend lots of time and money coming up with creative and elaborate ways to redefine terms so they can incite politicians to make laws in their favor, and demonize an entire category of their consumer base.
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Re: Right
Well you know, he did get paid. The library paid for that physical piece of media, and they loan it out in the context of a physical piece of media. One person at a time can have it and use it, and the rest of the library's patrons can't.
If a high enough number of the library's patrons want the item, the library doesn't copy it, they buy another one. Wil would get paid for that one, too.
If you want a copy to listen to once, go get it from the library, or buy it then sell it used.
If you want a copy to have and hold forever, buy it.
As someone else said, Wil's basic thesis is "if you download my audio book without paying, you're a dick."
He doesn't say you should go to jail, or be strung up by your toes. Just that it makes you a dick.
I agree.
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Re: Right
When content creators can no longer feed themselves, they will no longer create content
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First off, his fans would not download it. That is one of the more important messages of the blog post. Wil Wheaton maintains an active blog, writes several columns, and produces podcasts for his fans. Not only free, but under a Creative Commons share-alike license. He gives a ton of content for free. What he does to make a living, and feed his family, is create premium content for his fans to purchase. And he does it DRM free as he does not feel his consumers should be treated like criminals or that they should lose content that they purchased because after 5 years an authentication server goes splut or that file format is no longer supported on the latest gadget those kids are buying these days.
He is for the rights of consumers and he is for his rights as a content creator. He also has rights as a producer, director, distributor, etc. This is done by him pretty much exclusively. So when he says that if you download it you are stealing from him he's a lot closer than most other artists.
Now for the great part that I think he missed out on but works in his favor. Downloads do not equal sales. Chances are if you were going to download it from a shady site you were not going to purchase it. Its a dick move for sure, but it won't affect his bottom line. Instead he wrote about it and got a discussion going.
Memories of the Future comes out next week and he has several hawesome podcasts already on the site about it available for free, this time straight from the author
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Then who do you think is downloading it, people who have no interest in Wil Wheaton? Of course his fans download it.
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I think of it this way, if this was a bootleg copy from a really cool reading he did that was not commercially available then that's cool for fans to download and trade. But sharing the premium content or downloading without paying is a real dick move.
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You Don't Seem To Have Gotten It
I also checked out his website and he also sells his own music on there drm free. The fanclub having spoken privately to a member offers really good value for money, so kudos to him.
I think he made a lot of very valid points in his blog and I agreed with what he said. I'm no saint I have in the past downloaded music but the way he spoke about it made me rethink and its not something I will ever do again. He had passion for MUSIC and that's where his blog came from. It gave me a lot of respect for him.
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Reverse Streisand Effect For the Win!!!
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Free download?
Isn't that the premise that is typically used on this site?
This is what is always stated (except for trolls) when music is the topic.
This is the most basic point of all of these dicussions and if you don't get that you are still behind.
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The reality of free
I like Wil's work a lot, and would buy the hard copy of his book just to support him, but he is essentially just saying "Here is my business model, if you go around it, you are a dick." This would be equivalent to me trying to sell a book for $10 in Washington State, and $15 in Oregon, and just calling everyone in Portland who drove across the river to save a few bucks "Dicks".
Today, there is no amount of DRM that is going to prevent piracy, it won't even slow it down much. Even only releasing hard-copies will only last until someone gets bored. You HAVE to make free downloads a part of your business model, whether you like it or not.
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Exactly, which is something that he does. Free content in the form of blog postings and articles, free downloads in the form of the podcasts that he creates and the art/photos he releases under creative commons. He is a guy that gets it. Where he makes money is on premium content in the form of books and audiobooks.
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Audio book = infinite item
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Awesome! Rather than start with the pirated material you could download the plethora of material he gives away for free and not download the pirated material. I highly recommend the PAX keynote from 2007:
http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2007/08/pax-ftw.html
This way you can see if you enjoy his work without supporting someone who posted the premium content on a shady warez site and keep your computer from getting cyber-herpes.
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The post you replied to is correct. If it's digital (and sometimes even if it's not, re:books) then a smart business model (aka one that "gets it") will ASSUME that it will be pirated and leverage that to increase sales of non-scarce goods.
I'm beginning to think that he doesn't "get it" as well as everyone gives him credit for.
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I feel there are two very strong arguments used when defending piracy. First is the sample. Consumers do not want to blindly try something. In the physical world think of Borders or Barnes and Noble. You can pick up a book, flip through it, read some of it, etc. Really get the sense of if its a good read or not. Or think about the listening stations that are set up in music stores for new albums. But you can't leave the store without purchasing the book or the CD.
You need to provide the same for the digital world. Companies like Amazon "get it." They started providing scans of the table of contents and first few pages of books. Same with short samples of albums. Consumers get a chance to see if they like the content or not. Artists who don't "get it" sue people for doing that and many others that may be in the spirit of fair use if not the letter of the law. So he provides samples and content, I say he "gets it" in that regard.
Another argument is DRM. I think that DRM is an ungodly concept. It treats your consumers like criminals and is easily circumventable by an advanced user. So it does nothing for piracy problem and screws with the person who actually bought the content. If you purchased your content but didn't want a rootkit installed on your system I can hardly fault you for wandering to PirateBay and snagging a DRM free version. DRM doesn't work and Wil doesn't include it in his content. So I say he "gets it."
To argue your last point he is not basing his business model on the fact that none of his content will be stolen/pirated/whatever. He isn't sending out DMCAs (although he is well within his rights to), he isn't calling lawers and suing the infringer for eleventy-billion dollars of "lost profit." He didn't even mention who was doing it so as to not drive traffic to the site or illicit a retaliation from his fans.
Nope, he wrote on his blog about a guy who was being a dick and then moved on.
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But, if he got it, he'd see it as free advertising and, at worst, say nothing and, at best, thank the guy.
Now, putting up a paypal "donate" button seems a little over the line.
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Now if this was a Wil Wheaton fan page or something like that, then I think that argument could be made and could have some legs to it. Or if he was highlighting some snippets as fair use, definitely advertising.
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If your stuff is good and have a proper business model (which apparently he does), your fans will pay and he has been and continues to be paid.
That being said, I don't think he should be getting harshly criticized for speaking his mind when he seems to be doing more right than a lot of people.
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Hold up, I'll let you finish.... But Obama had the best responce against a dick of all time!
Just saying.
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Re: Why studio are closing
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I feel there are two very strong arguments used when defending piracy. First is the sample. Consumers do not want to blindly try something. In the physical world think of Borders or Barnes and Noble. You can pick up a book, flip through it, read some of it, etc. Really get the sense of if its a good read or not. Or think about the listening stations that are set up in music stores for new albums. But you can't leave the store without purchasing the book or the CD.
You need to provide the same for the digital world. Companies like Amazon "get it." They started providing scans of the table of contents and first few pages of books. Same with short samples of albums. Consumers get a chance to see if they like the content or not. Artists who don't "get it" sue people for doing that and many others that may be in the spirit of fair use if not the letter of the law. So he provides samples and content, I say he "gets it" in that regard.
Another argument is DRM. I think that DRM is an ungodly concept. It treats your consumers like criminals and is easily circumventable by an advanced user. So it does nothing for piracy problem and screws with the person who actually bought the content. If you purchased your content but didn't want a rootkit installed on your system I can hardly fault you for wandering to PirateBay and snagging a DRM free version. DRM doesn't work and Wil doesn't include it in his content. So I say he "gets it."
To argue your last point he is not basing his business model on the fact that none of his content will be stolen/pirated/whatever. He isn't sending out DMCAs (although he is well within his rights to), he isn't calling lawers and suing the infringer for eleventy-billion dollars of "lost profit." He didn't even mention who was doing it so as to not drive traffic to the site or illicit a retaliation from his fans.
Nope, he wrote on his blog about a guy who was being a dick and then moved on.
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Wholeheartedly agree! I think that word choice could have been more appropriate and you tend to embellish and say stupid shit when your angry. Choose words carefully and you appear less angry. To quote Comic Book Guy:
"There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling!"
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How does Wil 'get it'?
He states loudly and clearly that this material is released under creative commons share and share alike. Yeah, I dugg that...
With enough digging, a person, or carefully constructed spider, could probably assemble most of his published work through his blogs, his podcasts, and video of appearances. The books and audio books he sells are for the benefit of his fans and paying for the collected material gives the fans something that is not cobbled together from disparate sources. Additionally, these collected works are published and distributed via a very different model, it isn't filtered through a huge faceless publisher that uses it's artists as cheap content providers, it is effectively from the artist himself. An artist that does have bills to pay.
With enough time a person could share a playlist of Wil Wheaton videos that covers a lot of what this audiobook is about. This person however is asking for advertising revenue and paypal donations. It's easy to claim that they are only for hosting costs, but I have my doubts. I seriously doubt that anything more than what covers hosting is returned. Isn't this just the same as the faceless publisher that absorbs the majority of the profits derived from the artists work?
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It's no less inaccurate than calling it "sharing".
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50 Hours
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Re: 50 Hours
I don't agree with the entitlement crowd, but I agree it probably doesn't help his case to mention his time input. Though to be perfectly fair, you should remember to include production costs in your estimates.
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Re: It seemed to me
Wil has been vocal about allowing people to share his work - the operative word being SHARE. If you're selling it, that's not sharing. If you're selling unauthorized copies and pocketing all the money and not giving him any - how is that not stealing? Or at the very least being a phenomenal douchebag?
I say kudos to Wil for calling it out.
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Re: Re: It seemed to me
Sharing is one thing, and I fully support free data. However, I really do consider what this guy is doing to be theft.
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I have written a book, and it's in the public domain. You are free to take it and try to sell it. Good luck to you.
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Sure, problems arise when artists don't realize that changes in technology inevitably lead to changes in business and marketing models, but some blame needs to be placed on consumers when they don't realize that changes in technology do not lead to changes in ethical responsibilities.
Of course, I am going to change no one's sense of entitlement or smug sense of "Getting It." Keep doing what you're doing; it will not make you unhappy, you will continue to be able to justify it, and there will be no consequences.
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"Anonymous Coward"
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Online Bootleg Movie Downloads
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Online Bootleg Movie Downloads
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