Is digital piracy killing the entertainment industry?

[D()M]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030505-447204,00.html?CNN=yes

Interesting article. It goes really in depth on the subject of file sharing. Its a really long read but very interesting. Im, curious is there is anyone here who thinks that P2P piracy is a bad thing? It seems that there are a lot of people on some forums out there that defend the RIAA.

This part kills me :diab:

"CD album sales slid from 712 million units in 2001 to 680 million in 2002. CD sales in the first quarter of 2003 were down 15 million units from last year. Or look at it this way: in 2000 the top 10 albums in America sold 60 million copies; in 2001, 40 million; in 2002, 33 million. Nobody knows for sure exactly how much of the decline is caused by piracy, but it's safe to say the answer is somewhere between "some of it" and "most of it." Sure, the economy had a down year, but people found enough spare change in their couches to boost sales of MP3 players 56% over 2001."

[Bullfrog]

My personal take on the whole issue of CD sales is they charge to much for the product you get. My simple argument is why do I have to buy 8 or 9 crap songs for the one I really want. Now if a record store would allow me to pick the different songs I want from a list, burn them to a cd on a per song basis. I would have NO PROBLEM buying music...because then I am only paying for those things that I really want. That is me whole issue with RIAA.

The music industry is one of the few area's where I have to buy a bunch of junk to get a small piece of gold. Everything else in the world let's you select exactly what you want and only pay for the product you want. The RIAA has never listen to their customers and what they want, they dictate what the consumer can have. Which is why you see MP3 players going so wild. It gives the consumer a choice to do what they want the way they want it. The RIAA is fighting a losing battle and they will either have to change or go out of business. Personally....I wish they would all go out of business.

[enervate]

Digital piracy is doing about as much to kill the entertainment industry as the continuing play of CS is doing to forward the gaming industry.

[Bullfrog]

Digital piracy is doing about as much to kill the entertainment industry as the continuing play of CS is doing to forward the gaming industry.

Hard to argue with that logic! Oh so true :hittard:

[GotNoRice]

Bah, it may or may not have a negative impact on the entertainment industry, but they shouldn’t ignore the fact that they were selling a shitty product as part of the reason why people were jumping to the nearest alternative. If I want to listen to an hour of music in my car, do I want to change CD’s 9 times and get in a car accident because I was seeking tracks? Probably not…

Seems like they’ve missed the boat on being able to embrace the new technologies instead of fight them… Now they are so involved against new technology that they couldn’t go back if they wanted to.

And it’s getting to a point where the only way to stop piracy is to invade our privacy and take away many of our freedoms. I’m talking about hardware that monitors everything you do on your PC “just incase” you happen to do something illegal. Hardware/software refusing to play music files that don’t carry a special tag, etc… Somehow associations like the RIAA seem to think that them staying in business is more important than our keeping our freedom intact. It’s not.

[/preach]

[redhatchet]

All wrong. Why pay $15+ for a "NEW" CD when I can buy a used one for much much less..... It's the used market that's killing the sales

[Moddy]

All wrong. Why pay $15+ for a "NEW" CD when I can buy a used one for much much less..... It's the used market that's killing the sales

Welcome to FLG, Redhatchet!

[ChoMomma]

** Kinda odd how 3 years later they are at it again.. claiming they are losing their shirts over piracy. (oh and does this count as the farthest reaching revival of a dead thread evarrrrr!!!??????)


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801640.html

Hollywood Says Piracy Has Ripple Effect
Illegal Film Distribution Decreases Sales, Jobs and Tax Revenue, Study Says
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page D05


Seeking another weapon in its war on piracy, the movie industry hopes to wow lawmakers today with a study that says the economic impact of illegal DVD and Internet film distribution may be as much as three times what was previously estimated.

The movie industry continues to vigorously combat both DVD and Internet piracy of its films domestically and overseas, urging foreign governments to crack down on illegal DVD factories and toughen laws on Internet file-sharing.



Pirated-movie distribution operations such as this one in New York mean a loss to industry of about $20.5 billion per year, lost opportunities for about 140,000 new jobs and $800 million in lost tax revenue, the study says. (Recording Industry Association Of America Via Associated Press)
Downloading & Copyright
Years after the fall of Napster, peer-to-peer file sharing programs continue to eat into entertainment industry profits. The industry has responded with an all-out legal assault targeting the programs' developers and users.

Hollywood moviemakers, armed with the new study pointing to piracy as having ripple effects on the U.S. economy, want Washington to recognize the larger problem and address it.

The Institute for Policy Innovation, founded by former Republican congressman Richard K. Armey, is to present the study today at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference where NBC Universal chief executive Bob Wright will speak.

The movie industry had previously focused on piracy's impact on lost sales of legal DVDs and online films, estimated at about $6 billion per year, according to a previously released study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America, the movie industry lobby.

Lawmakers and federal agencies such as the Justice and State departments have helped Hollywood battle physical piracy -- specifically, counterfeit DVDs. But now the stakes are especially high for entertainment companies as they sell more of their products online in the form of digital songs, movies and other intellectual property.

Internet piracy may be tougher for lawmakers to conceptualize, entertainment companies fear.

The report being released today -- which was largely paid for by Armey's think tank with some funding from NBC Universal and the MPAA -- takes the previous study, conducted by consulting firm L.E.K., and applies a model used by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to calculate the potential ripple effect of those lost sales, factoring in lost jobs, worker earnings and tax revenue.

Given those facts, the study says, movie piracy causes a total lost output for U.S. industries of $20.5 billion per year, thwarts the creation of about 140,000 jobs and accounts for more than $800 million in lost tax revenue.

"I think it's legitimate to ask whether the L.E.K. numbers are defensible," Tom Giovanetti, president of the Institute for Policy Innovation, wrote in an e-mail. "We think they are at least the best shot that's been taken at the problem. . . . We've stated all of our assumptions and methodology, so I think we've shown pretty decent integrity in this study."

It's important to remember, however, that even though piracy prevents money from reaching the movie industry, those dollars probably stay in the economy, one intellectual property expert said.

"In other words, let's say people are forgoing paying for $6 billion in movies by downloading or consuming illegal goods but end up spending that $6 billion on iPods, computers and HDTV sets on which to watch the movies, which leads to $25 billion in job creation in the computer/software/consumer electronics field," Jason Shultz, staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote in an e-mail.

[DeadLamb]

who thinks that P2P piracy is a bad thing?

Bad like the RIAA, MPAA etc try to make it out to sound? Where every single d/l = a 100% lost sale? No..

Bad like it has a negative impact on the entertainment industry? Oh yeah, that is just a given, of course people buy more if there was no other way to get any given product.

Bad like I care? Nope.. I would never reach into a car and take $100 off the dash and if I saw a guy drop $10 I'd tell him, but wave a DVD in front of me I start to hear whispers of yoho yoho in the back ground.

RIAA and MPAA over look all the other issues that cause a lose of sales and blame 100% pirate this and that.. Even when they have over the top banner years as hollywood did a few summers back thet STILL go "Oh sure we made $$$$$$$$$$$$ but we still lost billions to pirates!!" :roll:

CD sales are down being so few care about CD' and they cost way too much. I bought the first gen of CD players, CD's were $15-18 and the guy said "Oh in a few years they will down to the cost of tapes ($8ish).. Flash foward to now (20+ years?), cds are STILL MSRP of $15.99+ $11ish on sale for mostly filler tunes and a few hits as bullfrog said. DVD sales are slower being people have already started to mass up 100's and don't feel the need to buy as many now.

I stopped buy new cd's years ago and only bought used CDs (about $50 a month worth). Then I stopped buying used when they got greedy and were almost the cost of new and started to buy DVD's. Then I stopped buy single DVDs, started to rent dvds and now only buy BOX set of DVDs.

So I'm STILL spending $$$, I just bought season 4,5 of Angel, so that's 5 for that show, 7 box sets for Buffy ( I have :stalker: issues) for around $400+ total? MPAA would walk in, see a DVD-r of Monsturd http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0364527/ and go "OMFG WE LOST $22 here!!"

no, no you did not, I would never buy that DVD but way to just focus on that and over look the money I did spend.

[Defiant One]

7 box sets for Buffy ( I have :stalker: issues)

I know a guy who knows a guy (etc.) that can get you a slightly-used pair of SMG's panties... PM for details. :eek:

[Area51_FLG]

All wrong. Why pay $15+ for a "NEW" CD when I can buy a used one for much much less..... It's the used market that's killing the sales


O...................Hi!! :tinfoil:

[Area51_FLG]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030505-447204,00.html?CNN=yes

Interesting article. It goes really in depth on the subject of file sharing. Its a really long read but very interesting. Im, curious is there is anyone here who thinks that P2P piracy is a bad thing? It seems that there are a lot of people on some forums out there that defend the RIAA.

This part kills me :diab:

"CD album sales slid from 712 million units in 2001 to 680 million in 2002. CD sales in the first quarter of 2003 were down 15 million units from last year. Or look at it this way: in 2000 the top 10 albums in America sold 60 million copies; in 2001, 40 million; in 2002, 33 million. Nobody knows for sure exactly how much of the decline is caused by piracy, but it's safe to say the answer is somewhere between "some of it" and "most of it." Sure, the economy had a down year, but people found enough spare change in their couches to boost sales of MP3 players 56% over 2001."


They have to factor in the online ( Download sales) into that figure.

[termdec]

I've just started listening to the radio again, and I think it might have something to do with the lack of new music. There's some innovative hip hop of course, but there's been nothing done with mainstream rock in the past few years except for some crappy pop-punk. Jack FM and KWOD both play the same late '90s alt rock that they were playing in the late '90s. I avoid 107.9 and all similar stations like the plague, but even they have stagnated enough so that I can recognize most of the songs from a few passing seconds here and there. Unless you're big on Jack Johnson, or boring as hell American Idol crap, there doesn't seem to be a lot to justify a trip out to blow $18 on a CD.

[Area51_FLG]

I've just started listening to the radio again,

You have satellite?

[ChoMomma]

I've just started listening to the radio again, and I think it might have something to do with the lack of new music. There's some innovative hip hop of course, but there's been nothing done with mainstream rock in the past few years except for some crappy pop-punk. Jack FM and KWOD both play the same late '90s alt rock that they were playing in the late '90s. I avoid 107.9 and all similar stations like the plague, but even they have stagnated enough so that I can recognize most of the songs from a few passing seconds here and there. Unless you're big on Jack Johnson, or boring as hell American Idol crap, there doesn't seem to be a lot to justify a trip out to blow $18 on a CD.



I agree 100% I feel like radio has become reruns and rehashes much like the movie industry except for those rare instances here and there.

[Anasazi]

D()M's alive!?!?!?!




All wrong. Why pay $15+ for a "NEW" CD when I can buy a used one for much much less..... It's the used market that's killing the sales


Who the hell are you and why would you make such a retarded statement like that?
Of course used CD's are cheaper. People already have them or have listened to them.
Why should I buy a new video card? A used Voodoo 3 costs much much less.....it's the used video cards that are killing the 7900 sales.