We know that Netflix has been killing it in new subscriber counts quarter after quarter, but that might be having some unexpected consequences. According to TorrentFreak, the increasing prevalence of Netflix is having a negative effect on US-based BitTorrent piracy. Apparently, if you give people a good deal on content, a lot of them will stop pirating movies.
TorrentFreak is not about to call time of death on torrents. There are no hard numbers on the effect, but they note, "We have some preliminary stats which show that the number of absolute US [Torrent] downloaders slightly decreased over the last year." Netflix has made a name for itself streaming a large catalog of films and television for a low price. Torrents were previously one of the few ways to get the same content for a low price (in its case, free).
Make no mistake, Netflix isn't going to totally stop piracy. But this trend could show that many consumers would like to pay for their content, they just lacked a viable option until recently. Do you think content owners should take this as a sign, and go with the streaming flow?
Comments are closed on this article
StaggeredSix
April 29, 2011 at 12:31pm
Alright so here is my argument. I love torrents. I love them so much, I have a dedicated server with 8 TBs of hard drive space. I love them so much I have the highest tier of residential bandwidth possible in my area. I love them SO much that I don't think I'd ever buy another movie, game, album, or application without them.
Medal of Honor 2010 for PC. I looted it from a torrent. Know why? I wanted to try it. I played it for 15 minutes and then went on Steam and bought it. One of the BEST purchases I've ever made.
I'm so sick of buying garbage software and horrible movies that I would rather pirate and then ask questions later. See, there is no way to return software, which is complete bullshit. I don't want your trash code gunking up my computer with sub par crap. Assasins Creed 1. GARBAGE. Haze. GARBAGE. See my point here? That is $120 worth of rubbish software. What can I do with it after I buy it? Trade it in for $5. Or better yet - turn it into a target for shooting.
I find nothing ethically wrong about torrenting, if you buy the goods after you try them. Software companies cry like children over pirating. Whaaaa you stole my work. Well, if you made something worth a shit - I may just buy it.
I have hundreds of movies on my server. I own EVERY SINGLE ONE. I downloaded EVERY SINGLE ONE before I bought it. Know why? Because I got to check it out before I bought it.
Now... what's the name of that completely horrible godzilla alien movie called.... Oh yeah Cloverfield. WOW was that just a complete waste of my life. I watched some of it before I bought it - and I'm SO glad I didn't spend anything on it. DELETE.
So all of you "Torrenting and pirating is so bad, your stealing whaaa cry cry drama drama Im better than you" people - go find something better to worry about. I'm not hurting anyone. I don't feel it's right to have a software company rip you off because you buy something - and then HATE it. Oh too bad - you bought it and cant return it because that could mean your pirating.
Look - there are totally legit reasons for torrenting copyrighted goods. If the recording artists want to come sue me, DO IT. I bet you dollars to donuts you find NOTHING on any of my hard drives, my ISP records OR my idevices. The only thing you will find is a massive binder full of CDs I bought because I torrented the music before I bought it. Movie studios? Bring it on.
The people who torrent without buying? Well - that's another story. I don't feel that it's right, but who am I to get all worked up about what they are doing. I have better things to worry about... like bills, family, friends, myself. So get off your galliant white steeds of insults. For all I care, you holier than thou tools can choke on a roll of quarters.
eday_2010
April 29, 2011 at 6:14am
I am not using Netflix yet, so I still torrent everything I want to watch. However, if I torrent a TV series and I find I like it, I will go out and buy it. I can honestly say that because of BitTorrent, I have purchased more DVDs than I would have without it. Without downloading and watching the first two seasons of The Jeffersons, I would have never purchased the six seasons available because I would have never watched it.
If I had Netflix, and what I wanted to watch was on the service, I would watch it there instead of getting it through BT. And if it was good, I would still go out and buy it.
Atomike
April 29, 2011 at 7:00am
I love it when criminals try to justify their crimes. "I only steal from big companies that don't need my money". "I only steal stuff that I don't really want anyway."
Stop it. What you're doing is wrong. Stop pretending there's any up-side to stealing stuff.
Svetty Parabols
April 29, 2011 at 7:39am
I love it when holier than thou douchebags have absolutely nothing to contribute to the problem than crap like " What you're doing is wrong. Stop pretending there's any up-side to stealing stuff." Im sure all the pirates are going to stop just because YOU want them to do it. Complaining about piracy is just as bad and if not worse than piracy. You offer no solutions, just add to the problem. We get it, your against illegal downloading.
IFLATLINEI
April 29, 2011 at 7:33am
OH STOP! Get off your high horse. Your obviously uninformed of the "Whole" situation concerning the media industry and the consumer. Or maybe its just that your simple minded. You cant see the whole picture because your just not capable. Either way thats fine just own it for god sakes, shut the heck up, and quit poisoning the internet with your crap while us adults discuss adult issues.
Captain_Steve
April 29, 2011 at 7:30am
A lot of the problem comes from saying that everybody that torrents is stealing stuff; by definition, stealing is taking something to deprive somebody else of its use. And while I do love much of Richard Stallman's philosophy, torrenting software is still theft, even though no resources are deprived of use, the potential for income is.
The real problem with labeling all people who use torrents as thieves is that it doesn't take into account intent of torrent. If, like the above poster, I download a season to check it out before I buy, then I'm not stealing; at least no more so than if I listen to the radio to Lady Gaga before I buy her album.
Or, if I really love old cartoon theme songs from the 80's and I decide to download the theme from Thundercats. To the best of my knowledge, I can't buy that on iTunes (though I could be wrong; all kinds of stuff is being sold these days). If I want a copy of it, I have no legal means to attain that song. It would be hard to call someone a thief for taking something that isn't even being offered for sale due to lack of interest and not due to business planning (It's still illegal to download a movie before it's released on DVD; so don't use this argument to say you wanted to pay for it but couldn't).
And finally, we have people who use torrents to get perfectly legal things that are meant to be shared by torrents. I often get new Linx distros through torrents and keep them for quite some time to upload to others; this is what I'm suppose to do to help the Opensource and Free Software community.
The problem is becoming the guilt before trial method when it comes to labeling copyright thieves. Anybody who is using a torrent must only be doing so because they are stealing. I think if intent were broken down on a case by case basis, they would find that the number of actual thieves is far less than the number reasonably required to label all torrent usage as the scourge of the entertainment industry.
ChatterboxChuck
April 29, 2011 at 10:01am
Nice reply there Captain, 2 thumbs up. My reply to these kinds of people is simple: "He who is free of sin cast the first stone". They say it takes one to know one so be careful when calling someone a thief as I am sure you have had your fair share of taking something you didn't pay for.
Gezzer
April 28, 2011 at 8:01pm
Man I wish Canada's CRTC would get their act together and stop limiting what netflick can stream.
As it currently stands their selection stinks for us. :( I'd use them in a flash if it was more like what the States get.
Ghok
April 28, 2011 at 9:00pm
Is it the CRTC? Or is it just that they don't have the rights in Canada? I think that's sometimes the case.
In any event, the article is right. I don't have a TV, so I used to bittorrent a few TV shows. Now those shows are on the CTV and Global websites, and so I don't have to.
MattyMattMatt
April 28, 2011 at 7:59pm
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/04/competing-with-free-anime-site-treats-piracy-as-a-market-failure.ars
Ars just discussed this recently, but from an Anime perspective. Simply put, content providers put up unnecessary hurdles for the consumer. It should be easy. Netflix is easy and priced reasonably. You can rent DVDs or you can just stream. It all just works and it doesn't force ads down your throat or other bullshit you aren't interested in. That's how it should be.
I stopped buying DVDs and started pirating them because I wanted to get straight to the movie, not all this other shit they put in the way. Yes, you can skip them now, but they are still there and they shouldn't be.
KenLV
April 28, 2011 at 8:48pm
"I stopped buying DVDs and started pirating them because I wanted to get straight to the movie..."
And the "full of shit award" goes to... MattyMattMatt
Justify it to yourself any way you want, but the world is full of two types of people: takers OR makers
If there were even a grain of truth to your bullshit statement, you'd buy the DVD (to you know, reward the creators, actors, writers, etc..) AND download the pirate version so you can "get right to it". Instead, you JUST download the pirate copy because you are a thief.
Balgaroo
April 29, 2011 at 2:54am
It must be nice to live in the world that you live in. You know the one where you take into consideration the work of others. The one where you look out for your fellow man. Are you really hearring yourself? Do you go door to door with those f_cking flyers too?
Listen, I'm not saying that your veiw does not have the "good intent". I'm saying that the majority of the world is looking out for number one. Really buy the the DVD and then torrent it? (which you can still be prosecuted for I might add)!
Matty is just like the rest of us. You want to stop piracy for the majority, make it easy to get the shitt we want with out any hassle. Netflix does this. Piracy goes down. Steam does this. Piracy goes down. Video on Demand does this. Piracy goes down. Pandora, Youtube... the list goes on. Give people an easy legal way to get something and they will us it. Tie it down with legal B.S. and they will find another way.
I feel that mabe Matty gets this a bit better than you. Not that I diagree with your openion, but you need to see the other side.
Also anyone that just straight calls straight bullshit on another person (even behind the protective wall of ambiguity really gets too me). Why do you think that people that "Troll" feel so empowered.
On another note, grats for no longer pireting as much Matty. It is good to support the creaters of I.P.
KenLV
April 29, 2011 at 11:22am
@Balgaroo
Really? You are going to go with "Hey Matt, thanks for not stealing so much"? Give him a pat on the head and a cookie why don't ya. As to the rest:
"You know the [world] where you take into consideration the work of others. The one where you look out for your fellow man. Are you really hearring yourself?"
Yes, I do believe that people should be rewarded for their hard work and should be protected against people stealing from them. What, you don't think they should be? Interesting perspective. While I would like to oblige you and "see the other side", I just can't see how you can justify such a position.
"Really buy the the DVD and then torrent it? (which you can still be prosecuted for I might add)!"
I didn't say that that was what he SHOULD do, but is what he WOULD do if he were even the slightest bit honest in his reasons for stealing. If HE is going to CLAIM that the ONLY reason he steals is to "get straight to it" then he would in fact PAY for the product and still "get straight to it" (by torrenting it). But he doesn't. He steals and then tries to justify it by blaming it on the hassle of having to hit "skip chapter" on his remote. In other words, his lame-ass excuse for his thievery is pure bullshit.
"You want to stop piracy for the majority, make it easy to get the shitt we want with out any hassle."
So, going to Wal-Mart or Amazon and ordering the DVD is too much "hassle"? Granted, that's more "hassle" than Matt's gripe with having to use fast forward, but still, are YOU really hearing yourself? So you think that life should be "hassle free" or it's OK to steal? Do you feed yourself or is it done via IV? Mom still wiping your ass too? "Take the hassle out of it and we won't steal - pinky promise" puleaze. And you wonder why I call "bullshit"?
And THAT is the world in which I live - the one with laws and morals where you are rewarded for hard work, actually pay for what you want, and are protected from thieves. But hey, as you implied, I must be some nut bag with "flyers".
Captain_Steve
April 29, 2011 at 5:47am
Actually, you can only be prosecuted for downloading a movie you own if you also upstream it. So if you are a bad peer and never upload, you can't actually be prosecuted for it.
tornato7
April 28, 2011 at 5:56pm
Digital content is getting cheaper. TV shows and music not only has to compete with piracy, but also with high-quality content on youtube. Hopefully that will lead to better TV and stuff. Some stuff, like a 3000 dollar piece of software that someone just wants to play around with, is still too expensive and pirated (and justifiied, IMO) because it's to freaken expensive.
livebriand
April 28, 2011 at 6:21pm
Adobe, are you listening? I pirate Photoshop because I only occosionally use it, it's a piece of bloat, and IT'S REALLY EXPENSIVE.
obsim
April 28, 2011 at 5:51pm
For years, people have generally been unhappy with what they get for their hard-earned cash. CD's, DVD's and now Blue-Ray Movies are generally overpriced and limit the way in which people are able to use their purchased content. Enter: Torrents - an avenue that allowed people to access their coveted media for free. Of course there was a price to pay in the form of badly rendered files or skipping in MP3 tracks and of course the whole malware issue (I won't even start to get into that). As stated above everything is cheaply availble online and streaming now but at what price? 128 KBPS MP3 files do sound like crap, even at $.69 a track they are just not worth it if you are an audiophile so I have always been wiling to spend the extra money on CD's so that the sound quality does not suffer. After all is said and done, perhaps the media companies are finally listening to what people have been asking for for 10+ years and they are finally making progressing towards fair digital use in such a way that people do not mind shelling out some cash for legal, streamed content rather than roaming around the Pirate Bay downloading things that may not even be what they had typed in the search path. You certainly can't beat $7.99/month for the sheer amount of content Netflix offers...even Anime fans are not left in the dark.
mattman059
April 28, 2011 at 5:14pm
Go figure...stop stealing consumers money, and they stop stealing yours...pure genious
TommM
April 28, 2011 at 3:50pm
There's zero reason to pirate. You can get songs on Amazon or iTunes for as low as .69 cents each and albums for 3 bucks. Steam, GOG, Gamers Gate, Stardock, etc. have crazy sales going where you can buy games at below bargain-basement pricing. And then you have RedBox and Netflix.
All the excuses to pirate - which were weak to begin with - are gone.
scavndrf
April 28, 2011 at 5:46pm
Last album I was going to buy on Amazon was almost $14 . . .
I do use Steam strictly for games now. As for TV shows I still have to use BT because some stuff is on Hulu, some on Hulu Plus, and some on neither. It's just so much easier to torrent those.
Captain_Steve
April 28, 2011 at 3:29pm
I use to do a whole lot of pirating stuff back in the day; then I turned into an adult with a viable income able to afford things like video games and movies. Now if movie companies would just let my legally purchased DVDs work on my Linux computers, I could stop using torrents all together.
someuid
April 28, 2011 at 3:00pm
I don't pirate anything because it is a lot quicker and easier to get on Netflix. I know they don't have everything, but that is ok. They have enough available. If a content owner isn't interested in putting their stuff on Netflix, that's ok with me. I probably don't even realize it isn't there.
I also don't pirate because the wife is uncomfortable with it.
I also also don't pirate because there is nothing there to pirate that is worth being sued over.
I don't think content owners will do anything positive from this information. They are interested in their bottom line and nothing else. They have their world view and nothing will change it, even bankruptcy. Even if someone could show them their bottom line will increase, they will never, ever admit to being mistaken about piracy and reverse course.
It is amazing how much the game has changed due to Netflix and DVR. Commericials are a thing of the past for me, and I have more content at my fingertips that ever before. I love it.
Crum.Nathan
April 28, 2011 at 2:57pm
I'm not sure everyone should switch to streaming but the reasonably priced model sure would be nice.
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