Yarr! I be a pirate...

[Articrono]

...of digital media. It's what led me to the cellar. It's widespread throughout the current music, video, and software industries. There are DVD-quality videos of movies not released in theaters available for download right now. There is a serial/password/registration crack for every piece of software imaginable, from the personal licensers who are trying to make rent with a $20 tag to the megalith corporations slapping price tags in the $800+ range. There are full CD-quality albums for every genre of music.

I pirate many things. TV shows, music, games and apps. I estimate I've taken at least $100k worth of media, all told. I'm not bragging, just giving you a frame of reference. I pirate, and I occasionally, but not often, feel remorse. I don't feel like I'm crushing the poor foley artist for the movie that grossed $10 million in the first week by ripping a DVD. I don't think that Metallica is hurting much when I pull an album or two. And I can't take seriously anyone that tries to get on my case for pirating copywrighted media that's commercially unavailable.

I like to think I have a moral code. I like to think I'm not really hurting anyone. I like my digital media even more, though.

-Art

[Troubleshooter]

As long as you are honest with yourself.

[glatt]

When I was in college, years ago, I would make cassette tapes of albums and CDs that others owned. These were albums I never would have paid for in the first place, because I didn't know the music that well. If it ended up being an album I liked alot, I would buy more CDs from that artist. If it was a band I ended up not liking so much, I wouldn't.

Those bootleg tapes became the seeds that grew into probably 50-100 legitimate CDs purchases that never would have happened otherwise. I was stealing, but I was also consuming, and the money went where it should have, because the good artists eventually got my money, and the bad ones didn't.

Today, I don't think that model applies any longer.

People like Articrono are going to be the death of the entertainment industry as we know it. If nobody pays for this stuff, the budgets to produce it will get smaller and smaller. Blockbuster movies will be a thing of the past, and Blair Witch Project style movies will rule the scene. Similarly, big rock bands will be no more, and a large number of small independent bands will rule the industry. As consumers, we'll have a lot more choice because technology improvements are lowering the barriers to entry, but it will be much less polished. And the artists will not be living large.

[Happy Monkey]

I think the model still applies. People still graduate to legitimate purchases once they get some cash in their pocket. But the piracy has given people an expectation of a la carte availability, so services like iTunes will be the future. Also, the easy availability of pirated media will lower the tolerance of even the most legitimate of buyers for inflated prices, which will certainly lower the profit margin.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by glatt

People like Articrono are going to be the death of the entertainment industry as we know it. If nobody pays for this stuff, the budgets to produce it will get smaller and smaller. Blockbuster movies will be a thing of the past, and Blair Witch Project style movies will rule the scene. Similarly, big rock bands will be no more, and a large number of small independent bands will rule the industry. As consumers, we'll have a lot more choice because technology improvements are lowering the barriers to entry, but it will be much less polished. And the artists will not be living large.

you say that like it's a bad thing. but in regards to big bands, i think the Grateful dead give your statement the lie. they encouraged pirating, even set up sections for tapers in their audience. they were about as big as it gets for 25+ years. rockers dont get into it for just the money. they're stupid to try to restrict their intelectual property in any way regardless. the money they lose in album sales is made up in increased fame and merch sales and concert tickets that exist because people are able to access their art and enjoy it. not like they make all that much from album sales in the first place. but i guess it's not entirely up to them, is it?

[LabRat]

Originally Posted by glatt

When I was in college, years ago, I would make cassette tapes of albums and CDs that others owned. These were albums I never would have paid for in the first place, because I didn't know the music that well. If it ended up being an album I liked alot, I would buy more CDs from that artist. If it was a band I ended up not liking so much, I wouldn't....People like Articrono are going to be the death of the entertainment industry as we know it.

I did this too, making tapes of tapes or CD's, and usually ended up buying more of the real thing from groups I liked. I easily had less than 5% of my collection being the copied type. Usually, I made 'mix' tapes because I didn't have a CD player in my car !

I don't think it's such a bad thing actually, because I got exposed to a lot more types of music then I EVER would have if I only had the option of buying.

As for the movie industry, for me, seeing a movie in the theater is as much about getting out for a night and having way too expensive popcorn and jumbo boxes of candy as it is about the movie itself. Personally, what has kept me out of the theater is the movie rental places. If a movie doesn't sound all that great, but I still want to see it, i just wait for it to come out on video. Which these days is amazingly fast. Unless it's an action movie, where the big screen and sound effects make the theater a better place to get the whole experience than my La-Z-Boy, I would rather watch a movie at home.

No annoying public there, and there's no stupid armrests to get in the way of making out...

[wolf]

And you don't miss anything when you go to the bathroom or to get more snacks.

My mother tells me, the older you get, the more important the pause button becomes.

Actually, TVs are getting better and better to the point where very soon the theater will become obsolete.

[glatt]

I'm no fan of the greedy studios, but it's a simple case of economics. If consumers won't buy a product, the studios won't make it. Part of my problem talking about this is that I'm in my late 30's and don't listen to or buy music as much anymore, so I don't know how much people buy music now. I used to buy 20-30 CDs a year back in my 20's. That converts to about $500 per year on buying music. Does the current generation of 20-somethings buy that much music? I get the feeling they don't. If they don't, then the studios are going to cut back somewhere.

Originally Posted by lumberjim

the Grateful dead give your statement the lie.

True.

That's the difference between a band that gets its money from touring and one that likes to stay in the studio.

I'll see your Dead, and raise you the Beatles. The Beatles toured a lot early on when they played simpler music. But they didn't venture out of the studio later on when their music got more complex. Sgt. Pepper would never have come out unless the fans were willing to pay for it. You can't really perform Sgt. Pepper live the way you can in a studio.

Originally Posted by LabRat

Unless it's an action movie, where the big screen and sound effects make the theater a better place to get the whole experience than my La-Z-Boy, I would rather watch a movie at home.

I think it's exactly that type of blockbuster movie that will become extinct, because they are more expensive to make. It will take a while for it to happen, because of bandwidth issues downloading movies, but I think we are headed in that direction if people aren't paying to watch them. I understand movie revenues are down this year over last year.

Bands will evolve to stay in the game, but I think where we are headed is smaller acts. Bands will have to tour more to survive. No more making a few hit records and retiring. Not necessarily a bad thing, just different.

[mrnoodle]

The "blockbuster" movies can't go extinct fast enough, imho. I've seen enough CGI explosions to last a lifetime. How about some characters and stories?

Technology will eventually enable any hack with a PC to replicate what they see in "XXX III -- Three Times The Xtreme Product Placement". They won't be able to replace the marquee actors, but why are we buying tickets to see a multimillionaire converse with a hand puppet in front of a blue screen, anyway?

Of course, there are notable exceptions -- I liked LOTR and can't wait for Narnia. But those use technology to...not sure how to say this...make you forget you're watching technology? Still, if the story's not there, no amount of (oxymoronic) special effects can save a movie. When we run out of 100 year old authors to plagiarize, who's going to write the stories? Focus groups? Gah.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

When we run out of 100 year old authors to plagiarize, who's going to write the stories? Focus groups? Gah.

We'll never run out of 100 year old authors - we can always do more remakes of stories that have already been done!

[Articrono]

Originally Posted by wolf

Actually, TVs are getting better and better to the point where very soon the theater will become obsolete.

This will never happen. Movie theaters are, as has been stated, about buying overpriced concessions, but also about the experience. I don't know what the local theaters are like in your neck of the woods, but I go to a chain called Century (used to work there, in fact). They have stadium-style seating (each row is several feet higher than the one below it, so no fatheads block your view) and they are fully THX certified. It's an amazing experience to watch armies of orcs and elves slaughtering each other on a 30x70 foot screen, one that can't be replicated no matter how much money you spend on your projection screen, movie room, and kickass sound system.

That said, working at the theater, I'd say 90% of the movies that came out while I was there were complete shit. Movies that are made for a "target audience" instead of made because the writer/director wanted to make a great movie plague the industry. In addition to "XXX III -- Three Times The Xtreme Product Placement", there's "Cute Teenage Love Story: The Tale of Target Audience Female 12-15", "It's Hot Right Now: Whatever The Other Guys are Making" (Zombie flicks, anyone?) and many more I'm not thinking of. The industry may become so flooded with crap that it won't be worth ever seeing a movie anymore, but it won't go under.