Ntldr

March 19, 2010 at 10:52am

• Democrats
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aviaggio

March 18, 2010 at 8:37pm

 

You completely missed the point, as usual for people with your attitude.

The MPAA blames piracy for the decline of DVD sales. What they fail to realize is that most people aren't buying DVDs like they used to, but instead choose to rent, saving purchases only for the movies they really like and can see watching multiple times. If the movies themselves were better people would be buying more DVDs.

Oh, wait, that's right, the MPAA knows that people are renting more instead of buying. That's why they're now refusing to give rentals companies access to new releases till after 30 days, in an attempt to "persuade" people to buy titles they otherwise would just rent. Again, if the movies themselves were better we'd be buying the DVDs, not waiting to rent them.

And don't let Metallica fool you. We've known for a very long time that artists earn very little money from the sale of CDs; even less from digital downloads. The labels, distributors, and retail outlets get 98% of the revenue, while 2% goes to the artist. After studio and production costs are recouped of course.  Artists make their money from touring, merchandise, and licensing deals. 

 

Tenhawk

March 18, 2010 at 5:46pm

Actually, that's not correct either. Theft indicates the removal of something of value from one hand, and the placement of it in another. Software and media 'piracy' doesn't do that.

No, there is a far more accurate term for it. It's called Copyright Infringement. Shocking, isn't it? Piracy, Theft, Artist Serial Killing, or whatever other shock terms people want to use are all nothing more than propaganda aimed at making people believe that it's something it's not. People don't understand Copyright Infringement. It doesn't make sense to them because the 'losses' are all in THEORY. So studios started using piracy and theft and other terms over the years to try and make people believe that something more is happening.

They started the movement back when VCRs came out, trying to ban the very device that eventually defined the industry. Music studios began the same idiocy against Burnable CD's, to the point where in some places like Canada you pay the industry a tax levied on blank CD's when you buy them at the counter. Never mind what you intend to use them for, you pay on the assumption that you're going to commit a crime. Of course the music studios not only survived burnable CDs, but continued to thrive well into the age of the MP3 where they quickly found something else to whine about.

More than a Decade ago, yes Ten freaking years, Napster  came on the scene and heralded the death of the music industry and the mass starvation of poor artists like Metallica. Oh wait. Yeah, they've posted record profits over the last decade, at least up until the recession (which is totally the fault of pirates. The recession I mean, everyone already knows that pirates are to blame for studio's record profits.)

Since then everyone has gotten in on the act, blaming so called pirates for everything from bad business plans to the death of modern media. (Am I the only one who wishes the damned pirates would hurry up on that second one? Modern Media SUCKS. If I have to sit through another 'huge' movie like 2012 I'm gonna go postal on both Modern Media and Pirates. Lazy Ass Pirates. How hard is it to finish off the industry that gave us Uwe Boll anyway??)

The facts of the case are this. Pirates generally spend more money on media than non pirates, all the 'losses' across all the media industries are ALWAYS theoretical in nature, and every time the studios attack a 'threat' they wind up actually *assaulting* the very future of their industries. It's a historical pattern.

VCRs were forecast to destroy the movie industry. Yeah, tell that to the companies that make movies EXCLUSIVELY for home release.

CD-R were supposed to annihilate the music industry. Ok, I'm not please with the bizarre mix albums I've been forced to listen to, but last I checked there were more musicians out there than normal people and somehow they manage to have a career that puts way more money on their table than I put on mine.

Digital Downloads. Lord, do I even need to go here? Despite the wailing, this is the future of media. More money is spent for less cost on the studio's part, and they STILL bitch.

What's next? Honestly not sure, though I'm guessing that it'll probably be something incredible beneficial to the industries that they will nevertheless wail and whine about, managing to get more laws passed in their favor despite not actually NEEDING any protections in the first place. But hey, welcome to the modern world. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, even if the little bastard is faking it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.