Needless to say, the Music Industry and the entertainment sector have grown tremendously due to various technological advancements. Streaming services, social media and improved audio and video recording equipment have had their fair share of roles in boosting both the earnings and exposure of the people involved be it the artistes, actors,producers or scriptwriters. But with technology,there has cropped up a group of individuals who aim to use the work so hard produced to enrich themselves without liasing with the owners. This has,and continues to, cost the industry astounding revenues every other year. Forms by which various works may be pirated include illegal downloads where site owners make available a song or a movie without the consent of the required parties. Others also make copies of the song, album or movie and sell it off cheaply. They don't give the original owner of work they're selling credit neither do they share the profits. Can this really be controlled?
Some people say that digital piracy is the great equalizer because even the poor people can partake of the art work that are supposed to be copyrighted. Would you believe that in Metro Manila there is a prevalance of pirated dvd, music and movies? And vendors are even inside big malls huh. It seems that the authorities couldn’t curtail that illegal practice of selling pirated art work in spite of having a law against it. I wonder why. I had attended seminars of WIPO (world intellectual property office). They are working towards the enactment of laws but they do not know how to help in the enactment of such laws. And the biggest violators are the netizens who share digital copies just like that.
Piracy is no doubt an unethical practice, so is definitely detrimental for industry. But, in a digital age, it is very difficult to control this. There're several shops here who sell pirated copy of movies, albums etc. even before their actual release. People are happily buying, and there's as such no check even from the law and order departments.
It is the industry's fault for making it super expensive. The price of a the audio cd of a singer during the 90's and early 2000's is a dollar when it is fresh from the factory but it's price increases way too much. Then on the digital era, A single of a mainstream act is like 3 dollars due to taxes and stuff. Games kind of succeeded fighting piracy because of DLC and microtransactions. South Korea fought movie piracy by removing tax for theatrical releases of movies so the masses can afford watching local movies.
Yeah, people tell me the same thing. I sell my ebooks at less than a dollar of profit, at most, but apparently that is still too much. I don't really get it. People who make art deserve to make a living just the same as people who make technology or repair things or serve customers. Look at what the average author, actor, screenwriter, or arts technician makes and tell me that's a huge income? And if you mean the publishers and studios, well, buy from indies them. But wait, either people don't want the lower quality indie material, or they steal that too. I think the cost of artistic products, which is driven by the exact same factors as the cost of anything, is an excuse not a reason. People steal digital goods because it is easy and they are unlikely to get caught, not because it is more justified.
@onliner I think this stuff can be controlled more inside the US and other certain nations than in other places. For instance, a lot of Asian nations, among others, have large industries in pirated movies and music that are sold to locals. Anyway, obviously, there is massive damage to the industry because it isn't a free show. The performers have to be paid and also all the other people involved in the production. Otherwise, the industry loses money and it becomes more difficult to encourage new talent - because the financial incentive isn't there. Anyhow, I think for some reason this problem is worse in the music industry. Oh, by the way, from a savings POV, of course, pirated is cheaper, but it hurts a lot of people so there are a lot of ethical questions and possibly down the line it could hurt the consumer.
