Internet Piracy

[Mr Cat Dog]

In US copyright law, there are controls on what can and can't be licensed and what things a license can contain, and it's all very confusing. I was specifically referring to resale of licensed books covered in the first sale doctrine. There are tons of seemingly contradictory precedents. Relevant concepts include fair use, originality (scope), and cases regarding clickwrap licenses.

It sounds confusing, but also strangely liberal on the whole, from what I read after learning this info. Fair use in the UK is slim at best, and that's pretty much one of the few defences to infringement, save for morality reasons and the like.

I say liberal, as the US and the UK differ on one of the most basic concepts of infringement: ripping CDs. Special provisions in the Copyright Act 1976 (US) mean that ripping CDs for personal use is fine; when you start lending them to friends it becomes impersonal, ergo infringement. In the UK, on the other hand, the mere act of ripping a CD is considered infringement. The government want to introduce proposals to change this, but it's still illegal at the moment. Very interesting to see the two different approaches!

 

[ShinyMeowth]

I cannot make a statement about others, but the people I pirate from are not losing any money. If I get something which I deem worthy of my money, I will pay for it (Like Minecraft, which I bought 30 minutes after pirating). If I pirate something that I find useful, but not worthy of my money, I do not pay for it. It all comes down to whether I believe the creator deserves the money or not, and to some factors including who the publisher is (I would never pirate something by an indie developer and keep using it without paying, but I have absolutely no problem with ripping Microsoft.)

 

[Archer]

Firstly, part of the high cost of an album is due to low sales. A certain profit is required to support the recording company and the artists. Obviously more sales = same profit at lower price.

Also, many people seem to follow an all-or-nothing policy of piracy. They can't afford to buy their entire collection, so they don't spend anything. I don't see any reason they can't make an effort to pay for some. Or at least pay for new-releases, when the artist makes the most money. This is because the artist makes money when a shop buys an album, not when you do (as far as physical copies. Digital is totally different). As such, if you buy the album in its prime, the shop will need to replace stock, resulting in more sales for the artist. This is why games often have a lower introductory/pre-order price. However if you buy late, such as clearances or specials, the stock will not be replaced as readily. Does this justify pirating old albums? Not with iTunes around, where you can get the album cheaper and the artist still gets royalties directly.

As for the main idea that lost sales are not lost profit, sure: many pirates would not buy an album if they couldn't download it - however a large number of people would actually pay.

I think the main reasonable case for piracy is evaluation. With games, most people will not replace it for the hassle involved in starting over. However with music and movies, many people will want to be comfortable with what they are buying before they pay for it. Software often offers a trial period to negate this, but not with music. In this case - I will often download an album and if I like it, I will either buy th album if it's new or just purchase the next one by that artist. In that case, I think it works in their favour.

 

[Dartht33bagger]

I download all of my music simply because I'm 18 and don't have the money to waste on the overpriced product that is music. The only time I have ever bought my music is when I get itunes gift cards as gifts from people. It's just not worth wasting $100 on 10 albums.

Another thing I torrent is old games. Why should I go out and buy Warcraft 3 for $20 when I could just torrent it, play through the campaign and then do some lan games with some buddies?

 

[Legobricks]

When people buy software, they are actually given a license agreement to read over and either agree to or reject before they can use said software legally. I've never seen music discs come with such license agreements. In my post that you quoted, I was simply stating what the law is in its current state.

Oh, yeah, I just went off on my own tangent; my reply to you was only the first paragraph.

 

[Archer]

I download all of my music simply because I'm 18 and don't have the money to waste on the overpriced product that is music.

Overpriced? How much time do you spend listening to music? Because I can assure you that it's not really overpriced. Considering if you really like an album, it will spend more time playing than most games at a fraction of the price. Not to mention it will last forever.

Another thing I torrent is old games. Why should I go out and buy Warcraft 3 for $20 when I could just torrent it...?

Uh... you're basically asking why you would pay for something you can get for free...

 

[Eliminator Jr.]

Overpriced? How much time do you spend listening to music? Because I can assure you that it's not really overpriced. Considering if you really like an album, it will spend more time playing than most games at a fraction of the price. Not to mention it will last forever.

It really depends on how much music you listen to as opposed to how many games you play. If the record companies had their way I would have had to have payed $20000 over my life for all the music I've listened to and later deleted when my music taste changed, and almost $4000 for what's in my music library now (and my music library is comparatively small to a lot of other peoples', I get rid of what I don't like). I hardly think the average person spends that much on games.

 

[Archer]

It really depends on how much music you listen to as opposed to how many games you play. If the record companies had their way I would have had to have payed $20000 over my life for all the music I've listened to and later deleted when my music taste changed, and almost $4000 for what's in my music library now (and my music library is comparatively small to a lot of other peoples', I get rid of what I don't like). I hardly think the average person spends that much on games.

But that's what I'm getting at - if you pay for music, you keep it around longer and appreciate it.

People with massive libraries obviously don't listen to everything on a regular basis.

Movies are the rip-off.

 

[Zurenriri]

My entire music library is less than enough to fill my 16GB Zune HD. Actually I think it's about half full.

A large portion of them are foreign and under-the-radar artists whose work can not be purchased at just any ol' Wal-Mart. And if I'm going to pay for anything, I want it in physical form. Licenses and agreements be damned, if I have a CD in my hands, it's mine.

So since CDs are not an option due to their unavailability and "buying MP3 files" certainly isn't an option, I often resort to piracy.

However I'm not totally without morals and if a band I like is playing nearby, I try to attend their show. I'll also buy t-shirts because it a) supports the band far more than buying an album and b) makes me look smexy.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

My entire music library is less than enough to fill my 16GB Zune HD. Actually I think it's about half full.

A large portion of them are foreign and under-the-radar artists whose work can not be purchased at just any ol' Wal-Mart. And if I'm going to pay for anything, I want it in physical form. Licenses and agreements be damned, if I have a CD in my hands, it's mine.

So since CDs are not an option due to their unavailability and "buying MP3 files" certainly isn't an option, I often resort to piracy.

However I'm not totally without morals and if a band I like is playing nearby, I try to attend their show. I'll also buy t-shirts because it a) supports the band far more than buying an album and b) makes me look smexy.

I agree. What I do is usually download singles but buy the album if it's an artist I really want to show support for. Shirts are obviously make you a walking ad for that artist vs. buying a CD that will sit at home most of the time.