Most File Sharers Would Pay For Legal Downloads

An anonymous reader writes "Two separate studies from Australia and Holland give the lie to corporate entertainment industry claims that file sharers are unprincipled thieves out to rob the honest but harshly treated movie and music studios. Over in Oz, news.com.au reports, 'Most people who illegally download movies, music and TV shows would pay for them if there was a cheap and legal service as convenient as file-sharing tools like BitTorrent.' And from the EU, 'Turnover in the recorded music industry is in decline, but only part of this decline can be attributed to file sharing,' says Legal, Economic and Cultural Aspects of File Sharing, an academic study, which also states, 'Conversely, only a small fraction of the content exchanged through file sharing networks comes at the expense of industry turnover. This renders the overall welfare effects of file sharing robustly positive.'"

DRM

[thepike]

Part of my problem has always been DRM. I know it's a lot better now than it used to be, but if I pay for it, I want to get to keep using it forever, not just until a given music store shuts down or something like that. Granted, itunes won't be going anywhere anytime soon, but when all this was starting that was a serious concern.

Even xkcd [xkcd.com] knows it's true.

Re:Uh-huh. I believe them.

[Spatial]

I don't see your point. Those services are hugely popular and lucrative.

Re:Uh-huh. I believe them.

[JaredOfEuropa]

Exactly. And that is where I get my music; I haven't illegally downloaded any music in ages, ever since there has been a viable legal alternative.

I still download movies illegally (though in the Netherlands downloading isn't strictly illegal if you don't upload at the same time). Why? Not because I am unwilling to spend my money, but because the pirates offer a better product. I fully agree with our MPs who state that downloading of copyrighted material will not be prosecuted until there is a viable legal alternative. Viable... This means a good selection, a good price, a variety of formats, and no DRM so that I can actually download to own and play movies on any of my devices.

Re:How Cheap?

[Reziac]

Yes, I know how much it costs, and I also know how much of that is graft and waste -- about 80% on average, per my experience in the industry. I have personally seen TV and films made for 10-20% of the typical budget -- solely because all the cost was coming out of the producer's own pocket, instead of being funded by a studio.

If this stuff was priced where it really should be, then maybe "Hollywood accounting" wouldn't be such a miracle of creative bookkeeping, because there wouldn't be so much money available to waste and embezzle in the first place.

Re:How Cheap?

[winomonkey]

I feel that your math is a little on the high side of things here. I suppose that 10 shows may be a fairly normal number for people to care about and track in an American household, but the per-person rating is high. Would the husband, wife, and children all watch separate shows with no overlap? I find that unlikely ... many of the shows would be "family time" events. Your American Idols, Myth Busters, House, etc will likely have multiple people watching them. Additionally, why is there the 3-season multiplier in there? I don't fully track that logic. To give a range of numbers more fitting to me (engaged man living with fiance, no kids) ... $2 a show, 5 shows regularly watched, 2 family members, 26 episodes, 1 season. $520 dollars for a year of our shows. While still high (I can buy a season's DVD set for what ... 50 to 100 bucks?), it isn't as preposterous to imagine someone paying my number as opposed to the $6000+ that you are figuring. I would like to point out that I, too, am of the TV-free lifestyle. Occasional Hulu watching, and new DVD series whenever I get sick for a couple of days. I have not yet figured out what my sweet-spot is for paying for the "privilege" of television. I am not sure that there is one, as each hour of TV has a high cost due to it mostly wasting my time.

Re:AllOfMp3.com

[cpghost]

They were setting ROMS royalties aside, as prescribed by Russian law, royalties that the US media cartels didn't want to collect for purely ideological reasons.

Re:How Cheap?

[darkpixel2k]

That would be ok, if the item would be posted right after it aired (like bit torrent)....

Exactly. That pisses me off. A friend recommended switching from the 'pirate life' to an xbox. He said just about every TV show and Movie I could want is available through Zune and/or Netflix.

I switched, and everything is several years behind. Wanna watch Season 1 of Heroes, sure. Wanna watch seasons two through five? Not on your xbox.

Is it really that fucking hard to figure out? I don't want to pay Comcast $65/mo for a crapload of channels and shows I don't want to watch. But I would spend about the same to be able to watch the 6 or 7 shows I actually like to watch--like the Simpsons, Nurse Jackie, Heroes, Scrubs, etc... Plus if the movie and TV studios were to release content like this for the xbox (Wii, PSP, etc...) their 'dreams' would come true--the ability to know just how many households watched the shows, which ones are rated the highest, etc...

I'm going out on a limb here--but I'd bet the retards at the movie and TV production companies are really old and really 'computer stupid'. They are also probably not inclined to take a risk with their money to try this new-fangled way of distributing their media. That's why they stick with the same old retarded rehashed shows and movies every year.

Personal Experience

[morcego]

Some time ago, a publisher released a book that I wanted. It was part of an ongoing series, and I had all the previous as e-books (paid for). However, now the publisher told the stores they can no longer sell these e-books for people from outside USA. This e-book is now simply unavailable to me. They don't sell it in my country, or anywhere else that will sell to me.

To add insult to injury, after several attempts to talk to the publisher, they never, even once, replied to my e-mails.

Need prove I was willing to pay ? I payed for all the others before. I even payed premium for those "just released" books.

My option ? A pirate download, of course. Which was, I'm said to say, readily available after a few days.

It amazes people they keep complaining about piracy, when they seem to simply be unwilling to sell to people who wants to pay. In this particular case, even the author of the book (who DID reply me) was baffled by the publisher's attitude. Yeah, protecting the authors my ass.