So, who says the entertainment industry is indeed threatened by our current tech landscape and economy? In the Great Depression movie sales skyrocketed; people sought out an escape from their economic woes. Wouldn’t it make sense for history to repeat itself? Well, the issue isn’t that people aren’t consuming entertainment. In fact, entertainment is everywhere. The problem is that people aren’t paying for what they consume. Sites that host pirated versions of films are increasingly popular, and more and more their traffic is replacing would-be paying theatre goers. All too often I ask a friend if they want to go see a movie and they will have already seen it on Megavideo.
There’s no doubt that sites like these are illegal. So is personal use of them. And you’d think with the creepy data-mining and visitation aggregating they can do these days they’d be able to track down the guilty and prosecute, right? So WTF is going on? Well, earlier this summer the Feds cracked down on 9 popular piracy sites, which certainly made a big dent in things (not big enough, but it’s a start). Between those 9 sites, they reportedly drew in 6.7 million visitors a month. But unfortunately, not ALL guilty sites have been busted, and users of the ones that were have likely already gone elsewhere to get their fix.
Some technological Utopists argue that exposure is all that matters. After all, in a perfect world, isn’t the important thing that people appreciate your art? The thing about Hollywood, however, is that their art isn’t cheap (and that’s an understatement). Films require talent, actors, directors, producers, writers, etc., and at no petty price to ANYone.
In a study conducted in 2006, piracy set U.S. entertainment industries back at least $20.5 billion per year and cost about 140,000 American jobs. Just image what the numbers are today. It’s hard to understand the consequences now, but piracy is really, really detrimental to entertainment. If it were 1995 and you were trying to watch Toy Story, would you waltz on into a Best Buy and snatch a copy off the shelf without paying? Probably not. But in 2010, millions of Woody fans caught the 3d installment of Pixar’s classic franchise on piracy sites. How is it any different?
I must admit that I totally do it myself. Mostly with TV shows, but I’ve caught a few flicks online for sure. Not to sound like a busted pot-smoking 16-year-old, but it’s hard not to when “everybody’s doing it”. Are they really gonna put all bajillion of us in jail? No. Should they? Probably not. But if they don’t find a way to universally and effectively punish piracy, it’s only going to get worse.
I don’t think anyone’s trying to push us back in time. Many entertainment conglomerates embrace new media, letting archived TV episodes live on their homepage for free viewing or submitting content rights to free (and LEGAL) services like Hulu. That said, there has to be a better solution to piracy. Some people really rely on their revenue from box office or DVD sales to run production, and you can’t assume that your $10 or so won’t make a difference. Because collectively, it makes a HUGE difference. I’m not saying I’m prepared to propose a solution, but I can sure tell that we need one—and quick.
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