Copyright Industries Massive Success Shows That They're Dying And Need More Draconian Copyright Laws?
from the say-what-now? dept
One of the favorite misleading tricks of supporters of more draconian copyright laws is to put out a report each year about the "size" of "the copyright industries," by the "International Intellectual Property Alliance" (a trade group made up of other trade groups, including the RIAA, MPAA, BSA, ESA, NMPA and others) There are numerous problems with this report. First off, it makes the ridiculously wrong assumption that "the copyright industries" exist solely because of copyright law. That is, they use the size of the numbers to suggest that stronger copyright law is necessary. Yet that's ridiculous. They present no evidence that the industries would be any different size, if copyright law were weaker or stronger. They simply present that as the obvious implication. Furthermore, their definition of what makes up "the copyright industries" is insanely broad, and tends to include plenty of operations who don't actually want stricter copyright laws at all. For example, I'm sure Techdirt technically qualifies under whatever measure they're using. After all, we're a publisher, so technically we're in "the content industries." Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law. That's true of many, many of the companies included as being in "the copyright industries."Unfortunately, this myth persists that if you add up all of the broadly defined "content industries," it somehow shows why you need stricter copyright. But that makes no sense. If they actually showed a direct causal relationship -- or even any evidence that copyright policy directly drives aggregate revenue, they might have some argument. But they don't go near such things. But it doesn't stop grandstanding around the issue. With the latest release, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Orrin Hatch, along with Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Adam Schiff, welcomed the various lobbyists who produced this report (i.e., the heads of the ESA, NMPA, RIAA and MPAA) to cheer on the report and use it to falsely pretend this is proof that more draconian copyright laws are important.
This makes no sense and, frankly, it insults the intelligence of just about everyone, to pretend that total revenue within an industry is the automatic indicator of how policy should be determined for that industry. You determine policies based on deltas, not absolutes.
It gets even worse, when you look at the actual report, which shows the industries in question are doing tremendously well. In fact, as many are noting, the report actually appears to undermine the industry's entire argument that "piracy" is somehow decimating their businesses. Instead -- even through a recession, these companies are making a ton of money, and there's no evidence of significant job losses.
It's a pretty weak move when our Congressional leaders to then take those points, that simply do not support the need for more copyright law in any way... and then use it to support such policies. Each year, of course, CCIA puts out a report that shows that if that's how you're going to calculate "the copyright industries," it's only fair to use the same methodology to calculate the industries that are built from "exceptions to copyright law," which turns out to be significantly larger than "the copyright industries." So if any of the elected officials praising this latest report are intellectually honest, they should actually be advocating for weaker copyright laws. After all, the same methodology shows that exceptions to copyright law contribute much more to the economy than copyright law itself.
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Filed Under: copyright, copyright industries, orrin hatch, sheldon whitehouse, studies
Companies: bsa, esa, iipa, mpaa, nmpa, riaa
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WB is the perfect example, a company that is basically shrinking it's way into profitability, by cutting jobs and axing parts of their business.
The music industry in the US has seen it's sales shrink from slightly more than 11 million in 2005 to 4.5 billion in 2009 (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_music_industry_market_share_data ), meaning that any company currently showing a profit has done so by cutting their expenses at a similar rate, done mostly by lowering staff counts.
The ARS Technica numbers are somewhat misleading, mostly because it ignores the massive increase in technology in use, especially worldwide. The explosion of home computers, smart phones, and the like are all parts of that "core" group (operating systems and other software), and would reflect that sort of gain.
It should be noted that the sales of technology are often trailing indicators, as companies do appear to try to fix their bottom lines by trying to improve productivity as they shrink the bottom line.
To draw a conclusion that the Music industry, example, is "Healthy" with sales off more than 50% in 5 years is pretty dishonest.
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If the industry is so big then how can it be dying? For it to be dying, there should be very few players in the industry. If it's so big and none of the players are doing that well, maybe it's because the industry's total revenue is being distributed among way too many players, so the industry as a whole is successful at generating a lot of revenue, but it's not generating a lot of revenue per industry person and entity. We should simply allow free market capitalism to correct this by shrinking the industry down to size and freeing up resources to provide the market with other things, instead of trying to artificially protect an industry's size.
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The variety of mediums in which they offer their product are not the problem, and you know it.
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[evidence needed]
Else it's just faith-based FUD. Funny how you are blasting them for not having evidence, but you, of course, do the same thing.
That is, they use the size of the numbers to suggest that stronger copyright law is necessary. Yet that's ridiculous. They present no evidence that the industries would be any different size, if copyright law were weaker or stronger.
And you can't prove it's not true.
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Haha okay. Well I say that their industry is the size it is because of pixie dust, Campbell's soup and the phase of the moon in Sagittarius. And you can't prove it's not true.
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This.
I guess we're back to Masnick suggesting piracy isn't really a problem again.
All one has to do is look at:
1. The number of layoffs that have occurred the past decade at both major and indie labels and other industry associated companies.
2. Production budgets are a fraction of what they used to be; a band that used to get 25k or 100k advance now gets 5k or 20k. Less time is spent writing, as the artist has to provide for himself in other ways. Less time is spent in the studio creating; a worse product results.
3. The above means less employment all along the food chain: musicians, labels, studios, PR companies etc.
This is not conjecture. They are objectively observable facts.
There is no reason to imagine why the government would not want to provide assistance and help remedy this when illegal behavior is the root cause for these problems.
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The variety of mediums in which they offer their product are not the problem, and you know it.
So they sell music in one specialty format, one obsolete format, one overpriced format, and one overpriced specialty format.
Yeah, I just can't figure out why they aren't succeeding...
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Because it's not the governments job to regulate an industry's size by outlawing behavior that should be legal.
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Your statement has nothing to do with anything.
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CD's and DVD's will shrink like Vinyl sales did, so the really dishonest party here is claiming harm without being able to prove it, because that money didn't come from nowhere, if it is not coming from unit sales of physical media it is coming from elsewhere, and that just proves that despite claims to the contrary the industry already found ways to make money that don't depend on physical sales of anything.
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I suggest you encourage governments to repeal copyright law if that's how you feel.
Good luck with that.
Until then, if you wish to live in a society, you respect the laws of the society in which you live.
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To say I'm arguing otherwise is ridiculous and a strawman.
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Okay - I'm glad we agree on that.
To say I'm arguing otherwise is ridiculous and a strawman.
Well, you did say "there's more people in the world than at any point in history too" which to me seemed to be saying that the increase in music is merely due to the increase in population. I guess I was wrong. Thanks for clarifying.
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That permission should be needed is your opinion. You are free to follow your own opinions on your own. Don't force your personal opinions on others through bad laws.
"I suggest you encourage governments to repeal copyright law if that's how you feel."
Part of the purpose of these discussions is to discuss these issues and to hopefully get governments to pass more reasonable copy protection laws.
"Until then, if you wish to live in a society, you respect the laws of the society in which you live."
Who said otherwise?
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2. And somehow, this is not a problem in India, Nigeria, South Korea, China or even Brazil why?
3. The above means jobs are being transferred to other areas of the globe, the world is adjusting to a new world order one in which Asia is becoming the economic center of it, just look at Europe asking help from China.
Those are facts sure, but your conclusions of why they are occurring are just wrong.
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Clearly your revenue comes from Mike's blog. You're always posting comments criticizing Mike's blog. Without Mike's blog, you would have no revenue and indeed no comments.
Clearly movie makers' revenue come from piracy. They constantly criticize piracy. Without piracy they would have no revenue and indeed no movies.
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Good luck with that.
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But US politicians are worried about the US economy; they have to be if they want to keep their job.
So don't be surprised that they are anxious to help these US businesses.
Most of the world's entertainment comes from the US, and they want to protect that export.
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Good luck with that.
There are very few Judge William Adams in the US.
Judge William Adams beats daughter for using the internet
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Nothing bad will come of it, if I don't, just to prove it I will now engage in piracy and rip something.
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Even taking your statement at face value doesn't mean that it is right to do something about it.
The recorded music industry has just seen the margin cost of their product drop to zero. This is a good thing. It means that there is no physical obstacle to us all having as much recorded music as we want for free. Inevitably it destroys the value of that part of the recording industry which was concerned with the production of physical copies. To complain about this is like complaining about the poor business environment for chimmney sweeps - now that most people have heating systems that don't create sooty chimneys.
Furthermore the new copying mechanisms no longer have any economies of scale. Therefore there is no need to aggressively market a few acts in order to take advantage of those economies.
So what you are complaining about is mostly the fact that technology has freed us from a lot of unnecessary toil!
Strange!
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Occam's razor says we don't have to.
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Plus I want to see anybody that will respect a monopoly of life + 95 years that gives anybody the power to say how and when something should be consumed and for which people need to keep paying and are labelled criminals if they don't jump 3 times before asking for permission.
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Anybody who wants to enforce a monopoly on others can't really expect people not to find ways around that, specially when it will be abused and it is eroding due process and free speech.
Between those 2 and your rights, I know where I will stand when the shit hits the fan.
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The problem in western markets may be that it is already mature there is no where to go but down.
Even in Brazil with the travelling raves that don't make use of copyright and in fact depend on other infringing their copyrights so they can attract people to their shows.
So I say that is a pretty good chance that the market today in the old economic world is shrinking not because of piracy but because of changes in consumer trends, people are not buying albums anymore they buy singles that are cheaper, people don't want to buy a bluray because to do so implies you need to have an internet connection at all times or else you won't be able to play the newly released DRM discs, but people still spend the same amount of money on entertainment so claiming that some part is shrinking and that is reason enough to give more power to people known to be dishonest is just silly.
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lol.
That the law is bad is your personal opinion...etc., etc.
You guys could go around on that all day.
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Why do copyright exists?
The whole purpose of it, is to promote the production of useful arts, so if more of it is being produced why do we need more laws again since it is pretty clear that those incentives are enough to keep people producing?
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I could understand that if it was some new weapon that nobody should know about, but something that depends on exposure to create buzz to hopefully create a need for it and translate that into sales of products can't possibly benefit from such course of action.
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Well, yeah, it is my opinion. and it's the opinion of many others. Which is part of the purpose of this discussion, to discuss the issue.
"There is no reason to imagine why the government would not want to provide assistance and help remedy this when illegal behavior is the root cause for these problems."
is false because it assumes that the laws themselves are good. If the laws are bad, which is what we are discussing here, then there indeed is a reason for a government not to provide the assistance necessary to enforce bad laws. Instead, the government should repeal them.
So no one is going around in circles. It's just that IP maximists are missing the point.
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...it must be working!
Sorry, I just find this argument hilarious, since people will make these poorly-founded arguments either way depending on what result they want to get to. More creativity than ever? Copyright is working and isn't holding us back! Yay copyright! More creativity than ever, piracy is great, those evil record labels are lying, and the music industry is healthy! Boo copyright!
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It's the creator's opinion that the laws are good.
So two conflicting opinions.
The creators contribute something to society, whereas the pirates don't.
It's a no-brainer which side the government is going to support.
But feel free to debate that till you're blue in the face.
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I don't know if you are being ignorant or deceitful, but to take and incomplete table and claim that it represents the total of ways that some industry makes money is wrong or dishonest.
In that Wikipedia table there is no mention of digital sales, B2B revenues, merch sales, theaters/shows sales, ancillary goods sales, how can you possibly say that sales are down 50%?
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Do you know if they pay taxes or not?
They probably pay more taxes than creators do since the bottom of society is the one that pays more than half the taxes the US government collects.
Without pirates you would have customers, because are pirates who buy things the others don't care.
Furthermore, no laws will effect cultural change if people don't want to change no matter how hard some people try.
But feel free to debate that till you're blue in the face.
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What is funny is your inability to make a coherent statement.
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It's part of the copy protection industry's opinion that the laws are good. You don't represent the opinions of all creators. Maybe some, but not all.
and no one is forcing creators to create. People will create perfectly fine without IP. If creators don't want people to copy their works, they can find another job. Receiving a free monopoly from society that society must pay and modify its behavior to enforce is not something any creator is entitled to.
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Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
BULLSHIT !!!!! outright LIE !!!
you are paid revenue because google places adds on your web site, those adds are COPYRIGHT. You make ALL your freaking revenue from copyright.
All you do not do is sell the RIGHTS to COPY YOUR CONTENT, instead you take those rights for yourself, you own the copyright of your work, it's only value is to you because you get people here reading your content and you have not assigned any group to manage your COPYRIGHT's.
Is "floor 64" a registered business ?
so its registered business name, you OWN THE COPYRIGHT to floor 64. You PROFIT FROM THAT COPYRIGHT..
Masnick ALL YOUR FREAKING PROFIT COMES FROM COPYRIGHT, copyright that you OWN, and is OF VALUE TO YOU !!!!..
Masnick....You're a joke...
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Emerging markets are very different in nature for mature market places. India in particular is seeing dramatic increases in personal income in many areas, and that changes consumption patterns. Stating that copyright helps or hurts in a place like this is very hard to determine. Are they seeing an increase in sales high enough to make the piracy issue appear not to be too serious?
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If a creator wants to contribute something in return for an IP privilege, I'd rather him or her find another job instead. Society doesn't owe any IP holders the effort necessary to abide by and enforce these laws and no IP holder should be allowed to require others to undergo such a burden.
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Yeah, you're wrong. Again.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nearly-half-of-US-households-apf-1105567323.html
Without pirates you would have customers
ha, well at least you got one thing correct.
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It's delusional. You're tilting at windmills.
Please go expound your anger on something more important.
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and Floor 64, Step 2, and "techdirt" are all 'copyrighted', as are the adds google put on this site, providing Mike his revenue..
Hypocrite:
A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc. that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
A person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.
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Stop building your own strawman and shooting it down. Why don't you, instead, focus your efforts on countering the real arguments.
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The Other Agenda
The ad works, obviously I'll remember the MusicUnlimited name for at least a short while, but the opportunity to accidentally rollover a time-waster is an adventure I'd rather not take. That's certainly negative reinforcement for visiting a Techdirt page.
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If it's not important, then why are you here expounding all this effort on this subject? and who are you to determine whats important? Perhaps different things are important to different people.
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Also we can look at other sectors to see if there is a problem with people copying anybody, are restaurants not being able to function in a market where anyone can copy others and make use of others intellectual properties freely?
Of course not, we still get multi-nationals being born like McDonalds, Subway and others, we still get a lot of small restaurants appearing everywhere that cater to every section of society and not just one part of it.
So really why do some people need "protections" and others don't?
Do this people really need copyrights to produce and be able to survive inside a market?
I don't believe artists need copyrights, they can have their own market now, the tools are here, anyone can now publish their own works and reach the entire world, you don't need expensive factories, or thousands of people to deliver things anymore, even if copied the market tends to favor the original creator if he is not an a-hole.
So why is that "protection" is needed again?
People keep still producing in the face of a reduction in the copyright strength, people keep making more money despite copyright loss of scope, now can anyone explain why it is really needed?
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Are automakers in dire straights because cab drivers don't pay them royalties or affiliate fees?
Did musicians have not one of the best decades ever with live gigs?
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Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
because without copyright, no one would advertise!
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Do you view all intellectual property the same way you view copyright?
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The internet has brought numerous ways to discover, sample and be exposed to new work in a completely legal manner.
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Do you know what "copyrighted" means, and why Floor64, Step 2 and techdirt are not an example of this?
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http://www.alternet.org/economy/150387/2_3rds_of_us_corporations_pay_zero_federal_taxes%3A _us_uncut_movement_builds_to_make_them_pay_up
Well somebody is paying those taxes is not the rich, is not the poor and it is not companies, so it has to be the middle class.
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Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
BULLSHIT !!!!! outright LIE !!!
Great way to start. I'm sure you're going to win some hearts and minds there.
you are paid revenue because google places adds on your web site, those adds are COPYRIGHT. You make ALL your freaking revenue from copyright.
1. What percentage of what Mike makes comes from ad placements? Oh, that's right, you have no idea. How can you make this statement in light of the information you simply don't have?
2. Advertisements have little to nothing to do with copyright. In fact, if someone was to copy an advertisement and distribute it, the originator couldn't be more pleased.
3. Mike has already declared many times that he doesn't care what's done with the content on this site, so it can't be that you're referring to, can it?
All you do not do is sell the RIGHTS to COPY YOUR CONTENT, instead you take those rights for yourself, you own the copyright of your work, it's only value is to you because you get people here reading your content and you have not assigned any group to manage your COPYRIGHT's.
You're right here, but that completely contratdicts your earlier assertion that Mike's revenue comes from copyright. How could that be the case if he's not asserting those rights?
Is "floor 64" a registered business ?
so its registered business name, you OWN THE COPYRIGHT to floor 64. You PROFIT FROM THAT COPYRIGHT..
This is totally wrong. If floor 64 is registered, it's a trademark, not a copyright. Trademarks grant specific rights different from and more limited that copyrights.
Masnick ALL YOUR FREAKING PROFIT COMES FROM COPYRIGHT, copyright that you OWN, and is OF VALUE TO YOU !!!!..
Masnick....You're a joke...
Maybe you should look into Xanex. It's been helpful to a lot of people.
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I totally agree with that.
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Every platform right now for the little people are at risk by legislation that is in congress right now and you say it is fine because they will able to use something that may not be there tomorrow?
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Heck to this day I can't find a place to buy Earth 2, and you are saying that it will be easier as it is today to find things?
I doubt it, copyright is not what creates the market, people exchanging information about what they like or not is what creates market and you can't possibly believe that a bigger market can emerge from limiting it, to a handful of people who are not going to be able to serve everybody.
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Strip club being sued for not paying royalites for playing 4 songs!
“We pay our ASCAP and BMI dues, and we’ve been doing so for 17 years,” Banana boss Peter DePesa told the Track. “I just found out about this, and I know nothing about it.”
A consortium of music companies filed suit against DePesa and his partners, brother Robert DePesa and Mark Filtranti, earlier this week, claiming copyright infringement because the strip club allegedly did not pay licensing fees for the tunes they spun, including Robin’s “Show Me Love,” Fuel’s “Shimmer,” B Stevie’s “Spring Love” and Company B’s “Fascinated.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view/2011_1103banana_big_we_didnt_ slip_up_on_music_co_dues/srvc=home&position=2
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade-Mark_Cases
More like under the Lanham Act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanham_Act
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Trademarks are under Title 15
TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE
Quote:
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade-Mark_Cases
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WB's products are more popular today than ever, but because of piracy, only a percentage of the consumers are paying for the product anymore.
There is no such thing as zero marginal cost. It's bullshit end to end. As soon as someone has to be involved, as soon as you get it over a network, as soon as there is a server, and so on, there is a marginal cost. Even Itunes has marginal costs.
"Furthermore the new copying mechanisms no longer have any economies of scale. Therefore there is no need to aggressively market a few acts in order to take advantage of those economies."
The costs to find, to record, to produce, to market and to promote acts are still significant. Try putting a band on the road for a month out of your pocket and see. Heck, just call up the tour bus guys and try to rent a single private coach for a month. Put them up in hotels, pay their meals, equipment... and then remind me how things have become infinite and free. Once I stop laughing, I will try to answer you again.
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YOU CAN'T!
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And itunes charging .99 is too much?? LOL
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You just explained it in a nutshell.
The way society works is that people either police themselves or the government does it for them.
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Masnick lets play "what if" we know you like that game
You check your techdirt web site and you find you only have had ONE page hit, the next day you check again, and there is ONE MORE page hit.
You are still posting your 'stories' but now you are making no google money and getting no page hits, (and selling NO products).
You set out to find out what has happened !!.
You find a web site called "Techdert" and you find it is that web page this is the ONE visitor you get per day.
The web page Techdert, ONLY HAS YOUR CONTENT, or readers comments.
The auther is still you, but techdert has copy/pasted your page, improved it, and are making lots of money from your content.
Techdert gets REALLY BIG, they start to make thousands of dallars a day.
Mike, are you going to continue writing your stories and posting them here, to get ONE page hit, from "techdert" that is only to copy your stuff and make lots of money for it.
You're ok with that ??
Could you afford to maintain your website with only one page hit per day ?
See how hypcritical you are Masnick, most hypocrits dont.
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I don't know of any numbers that suggest more people are making music- I certainly hope that is the case- but it is generally accepted that the more time a musician has to devote to their art- writing, rehearsing and recording, the better the final result will be.
And removing time and money from them means less time to write, rehearse and record.
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Re: Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
Oh right I dont have any idea !!!, I know it is:
GREATER THEN ZERO
Less than ALOT
Enough for him to continue his operations
So yes, I CAN MAKE THAT FREAKING Statement.
Just because YOU DONT KNOW SOMETHING, does not mean everyone else does not know it.
How could that be the case if he's not asserting those rights?
But he is asserting his rights, he has registered his business, therefore he has a copyright on that.
He has an implicit copyrite on his works, the fact he chooses not to exercise that right does not mean he does not that that right in the first place.
I have the right to drive a car, I dont have to exercise my right, it is a right, not a duty.
So Masnick has every RIGHT to not enforce his rights, but that does not mean he does not have said rights.
This is totally wrong. If floor 64 is registered, it's a trademark, not a copyright. Trademarks grant specific rights different from and more limited that copyrights.
You shoot yourself down here, regeristering a trademark is taking out COPYRIGHT on that name.
It is protection right under copyright law, if not then what the hell is it ??? (in your 'opinion')
So if "floor 64" is a registered business, it is afforded full legal protection under COPYRIGHT LAW, therefore as Mike ownes the copyright of "floor 64" then all the profit that "floor 64" makes, is based on the FACT that his business (and its name) is protected under copyright law.
Unless you are brain dead, and/or have no concept of law or economics..... something something.... coolaid.....
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Which has nothing to do with the recession or the competition about people's attention by other media.
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As he's said repeatedly, again just yesterday or the day before that. Of course you moron won't notice cause your busy posting your rants that noone takes seriously.
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Re: Masnick lets play "what if" we know you like that game
YES, Mike WANTS you to take his content! Go right ahead! If you're able to take his content and somehow figure out a way to monetize it better than he can, he'll be the first to applaud you.
Only one problem...your potential audience, us techdirt regulars, wouldn't want to go to Techdert, because we want the site that originally had these stories to profit. Copyright, trademark, whatever laws, don't come into play here, its the market speaking, and they will want the original author to profit.
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What were the best albums of all times for every single band or singer out there?
The answer is probably the first ones when they didn't reach fame and glories, rare are the ones that came after fame and wrote things as good as that first ones, what we see is old stars taking 10 years hiatus to produce crap and capitalize on the old name.
So I can't believe in what you are saying, since that is not true for me and I don't know anyone that find it true either but maybe you live in a different social group that find the new songs are always better than the oldies.
I even have a theory for why that happens, when bands and singers get to the top they don't have to work as hard they don't have to prove anything and they lose contact with their core fan base and start making that self-awering philosophical BS, geeeezuz if I wanted something profound I would read real thinkers like Aristotle, Nietze, I just need to connect some noise to some moment in my life and have that as a trigger to brain endorfines how hard is that?
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Hey Hussein when are you going to start your run?
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BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Oh my god, no. No, they aren't.
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Re: Re: Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
No.
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Re: Re: Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
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Re: Re: Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
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But what is conjecture is the reason for this trend. Piracy may or may not be a significant factor, but it's certainly not the only one.
For example, I haven't purchased a single piece of music from a mainstream label in over a decade, and I'm not going to start anytime soon. I stopped buying because I found the actions of the labels to be unconscionable and could not continue to help fund them.
I've purchased very little music from any label whatsoever. However, over the past decade I've been purchasing an increasingly large amount of music -- I just do it directly from the artists themselves.
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It is possible to believe that copyright law as it exists right now is harmful to society and law-abiding individuals and is in desperate need of reform without believing that piracy is good and proper.
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It's not fear-mongering to point out that past behavior is a pretty good predictor of future behavior.
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What percentage of sales are lost to piracy? 1%, 5%, 99%? The answer to this question matters a great deal, and without that answer your statement here means nothing.
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Re: Re: Masnick lets play "what if" we know you like that game
it's WHAT IF..
WHAT IF WHAT I SAID HAPPEND.
not what IS happening,
Dullards..
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Re: Re: Masnick lets play "what if" we know you like that game
NO, idiot Mike wants you to GET HIS CONTENT OFF THIS SITE..
You cannot "take his content" you do not have that right, he want you to come to techdirt, and read is posts.
That is what he WANTS...
we All KNOW THAT IS WHAT MIKE SAYS forfucksake....
what I am saying is what would happen IF it actually HAPPENED, and the way I have explained it.
So your saying or trying to tell me, that Mike would be able to continue running "techdirt" with ONLY ONE HIT PER DAY..
WHAT IF what Mike says he wants ACTUALLY HAPPEND, and
WHAT IF he only got ONE page hit per day..
IF that was the case (and we all know it IS NOT) but what IF
IF that was the case, would Masnick still be able to create the amount of content that he does not, or be able to afford to run the site.
Ofcourse If Mike was not able to make money from this site, he would not be able to keep this site going.
If Mike can not afford to keep this site going, how is Mike going to make his content available ?
Mike uses the profit from this site to fund his continuing work.
He is upholding his property rights and making money from that Right.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
good one.. thanks for that !!!
We ALL know what Mike things about patents, did mike make application to the
USPTO to register his trademark ??
United States PATENT and TRADEMARK OFFICE..
Go figure.. a moron AC...
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
and Mike is good with patents and dealing with the USPTO ??
Do you know what the T stands for ?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Yet I can tell you right now that exactly zero percent of our revenue is due to copyright law.
They sell the Articles themselves, people buy the newpaper to read the articles, and therefore the people who write the articles profit from their work.
They do not sell the copyright, they sell the COPY, but not the right.
and you buy the COPY and understand that is what you have purchased, not the COPYRIGHT for it, but the right to read and enjoy the content..
Mike writes the articles, he retains the copyright, and sells the COPY.
Mike makes his money from copyright, he has a right to create content, and he uses that content to make profit (money).
He does not exercise his copyright ONLY to the point that he does not SELL the copyright to his works. (he does not even care if it is copied).
But that does not mean he is not profiting from copyright, and HIS right to copy his content.
After all, we are all seeing COPIES of Mikes work, even if Mike says that we are allowed to take his content, that is only because he has stated he will not enforce his COPYRIGHT.
Not enforcing his copyright to his content, is NOT THE SAME as 'giving up or not having that right'.
My Mike stating that "you can use my content, I wont prosecute".
If EXACTLY THE SAME AS:
"I assign the copyright of my works to any person who so wishes to exercise that right".
Mike is ENFORCING COPYRIGHT LAW.
Therefore Mike's business model is based on COPYRIGHT, his profits are derived from COPYRIGHT, and TRADEMARKS and PATENTS....
There are laws and I have the RIGHT not to give you money if you demand it (you try to steal off me).
But I also have the right to GIVE YOU MONEY, if I choose to do so.
there is NO difference, it is MY CHOICE and MY RIGHTS.
I have a right to my property, and I have a right to do what I want with my property.
Mike has a COPYRIGHT to his property (content) he also have a right to NOT exercise that right, and just as you are or I am we have the right to give someone money if we choose too.
You have a right to your stuff, I have a right to my stuff, but that does not mean that I do not have a right to let you have some of my stuff.
But I do not have the right to TAKE your stuff, and you do not have a right to TAKE MY stuff..
But you and me both have a right to ALLOW you the RIGHTS to my stuff.
And I dont need any copyright laws or patents to allow me to do that.
What Mike is trying to state is that "as I give my rights away, everyone should give their rights away too"
Masnick has never 'given up his rights' to copyright, and never sold copyright for his work.
He does not need too, he profits DIRECTLY from retaining the copyright himself..
Ofcouse he says that anyone can copy his content, but that is his right under the law.
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I can prove you are not a llama because llama's do not type or read Techdirt.
If you can find a llama that can do that you can prove me wrong.
But unless you can do that You cannot prove it is not true.
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Only a percentage ever did - the rest listened to the radio, or in friends houses etc etc.
If it genuinely was popular then people would want to pay. If they don't pay that just suggests it isn't really that popular.
There is no such thing as zero marginal cost. It's bullshit end to end. As soon as someone has to be involved, as soon as you get it over a network, as soon as there is a server, and so on, there is a marginal cost. Even Itunes has marginal costs.
You have zero marginal costs when your customer pays them for you.
The costs to find, to record, to produce, to market and to promote acts are still significant.
Your comment just demonstrates that you haven't a clue what the term "marginal cost" actually means.
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Re: Re: Masnick lets play "what if" we know you like that game
He hasn't changed his line; he hasn't learned anything; he hasn't even refined his arguments or dealt with any of the clearly and repeatedly identified factual errors in his positions.
In short -- you're wasting your time (unless perhaps you are actually addressing the general audience, rather than darryl himself).
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Re: Re: Re: Masnick lets play "what if" we know you like that game
Nice try though, assuming Mike would flip out and cry like so many other seem to believe is their only option.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Masnick lets play "what if" we know you like that game
why has he allready NOT done that ?
Does Mike need competition to perform ?
Are you saying Mike could do better, but 'just does not want too" ???
How do you know Mike would be capable of 'doing better' than EVERYONE or ANYONE ELSE on the planet..
What happens if he cant "do better" ??? does Mike then Cry about his copyright ?
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Yes, he can always do better if someone else is currently beating him with his own content. At the /very/ least, he could exactly duplicate the copycat site, but have the inherent advantage of being the original source.
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If they could make more money at a lower price... yes.
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Well I don't know about you guys, but I feel better already.
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