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rubecube · 01-18-2012, 11:05 AM

I think the biggest flaw in all of this is the assertion that piracy is the biggest cause of lost profits in any of these industries (i.e. porn, film, music). Each of them can actually point to completely legitimate ways of accessing content as the real reasons behind the loss of profits.

Music-

- Profits were artificially inflated in the 90s due to people replacing their cassette collections with CDs
- iPods and iTunes made it easier and more efficient to purchase individual songs rather than entire albums, making the concepts of the single and the album semi-obsolete. Also, no longer needed compilations
- Top 40 content simply not good enough to justify buying entire CDs. Not mention that top 40 radio recycles the same songs often enough to justify not buying CDS

Film-

- Again, DVD sales artificially inflated due to many people replacing VHS collections
- Hilariously, this didn't work with people when Blu-Ray came out. In some cases, pissed people off (see: Lord of the Rings)
- Theatre attendance had already started to decline due to high prices and introduction of HDTV
- Netflix, OnDemand PPV made it more convenient and cheaper to stay home and not rent/purchase movies

Porn-

- I've never actually purchased porn and don't know why anyone would
- From what I've read, the collapse of the porn industry can be attributed to the digital distribution of amateur pornography

To be fair, the film and music industries would've been less likely to provide premimum content to iTunes and Netflix if piracy didn't exist, but I think that just proves why piracy is necessary. It's a check against pure greed. I can almost guarantee that if they were ever able to completely legislate and eradicate digital piracy (which is pretty unlikely), we would see either a complete reduction of digital content or an increased cost associated with it.

01-18-2012, 11:05 AM	#56
rubecube Franchise Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Victoria Exp:	I think the biggest flaw in all of this is the assertion that piracy is the biggest cause of lost profits in any of these industries (i.e. porn, film, music). Each of them can actually point to completely legitimate ways of accessing content as the real reasons behind the loss of profits. Music- - Profits were artificially inflated in the 90s due to people replacing their cassette collections with CDs - iPods and iTunes made it easier and more efficient to purchase individual songs rather than entire albums, making the concepts of the single and the album semi-obsolete. Also, no longer needed compilations - Top 40 content simply not good enough to justify buying entire CDs. Not mention that top 40 radio recycles the same songs often enough to justify not buying CDS Film- - Again, DVD sales artificially inflated due to many people replacing VHS collections - Hilariously, this didn't work with people when Blu-Ray came out. In some cases, pissed people off (see: Lord of the Rings) - Theatre attendance had already started to decline due to high prices and introduction of HDTV - Netflix, OnDemand PPV made it more convenient and cheaper to stay home and not rent/purchase movies Porn- - I've never actually purchased porn and don't know why anyone would - From what I've read, the collapse of the porn industry can be attributed to the digital distribution of amateur pornography To be fair, the film and music industries would've been less likely to provide premimum content to iTunes and Netflix if piracy didn't exist, but I think that just proves why piracy is necessary. It's a check against pure greed. I can almost guarantee that if they were ever able to completely legislate and eradicate digital piracy (which is pretty unlikely), we would see either a complete reduction of digital content or an increased cost associated with it.