Piracy

[miniboes]

I'm very curious what you all think of piracy. I have a few questions. Note that when I say 'download' or 'upload' it is implied that you did not pay for the intellectual property (IP) or get permission from the owner of said IP.

a) When do you think it is wrong to download IP?

b) Do you think it should be illegal to download IP? If yes, should the ban be enforced?

c) When do you think it is wrong to upload IP?

d) Do you think it should be illegal to upload IP? If yes, should the ban be enforced?

e) How, if at all, do you think the content of the IP matters?

f) Do you think it is correct to refer to piracy as stealing?

[Jebus]

I have no problem with "stealing" music. I felt screwed for many years by the music industry (prices increased 40% when they went from LP to CD although production costs stayed the same) so now it's time to get even. I believe musicians should make money performing live and that the purpose of quality recorded music should be to increase their ticket sales.

Movies are a different issue. Contrary to music, I think lower revenue will result in lower quality films.

[miniboes]

Movies are a different issue. Contrary to music, I think lower revenue will result in lower quality films.

Well, obviously lower revenue leads to lower quality. The question is whether or not piracy actually results in significantly lower revenue. Piracy has clearly increased over the years, but the movie industry is still just as huge:

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/ (I highly recommend scrolling through this page, it's interesting.)

An important question is; would the downloader buy the film if he could not download it? The answer is not always yes, and to know how often it is seems very difficult if not impossible.

There seems to be a parallel between concerts in the music industry and film theater/festival screenings in the film industry. I really enjoy going to the cinema as a social activity. It really enhances the experience, in my opinion, do watch a movie with a huge screen, great sound and a couple of friends to talk about it afterward. You can't download this experience, and emulating it by buying a huge screen/beamer and speakers is expensive. Many movies are already very profitable before they even get released on DVD.

Given this, what do you think makes movies different?

[Jebus]

Given this, what do you think makes movies different?

What do you mean? Different in what way? Please clarify.

[miniboes]

Given this, what do you think makes movies different?

What do you mean? Different in what way? Please clarify.

You said:

Movies are a different issue. Contrary to music, I think lower revenue will result in lower quality films.

So.. How are movies a different issue? Why does lower revenue not result in lower quality with music, but does so with movies?

[Jebus]

So.. How are movies a different issue? Why does lower revenue not result in lower quality with music, but does so with movies?

There are a lot more music makers than movie makers and in music it's not necessarily the talent that makes it to the top. If some top musicians quit making music because of lower revenue, there would still be a huge talent pool to choose from. Also, it doesn't cost much to make good music and unless you're a fan of low budget European movies you will find a positive correlation between movie budget and movie enjoyment.