This is a guest post for Culch.ie from Ken of BurnAllZombies.com. Ken is looking at how illegal downloading effects the entertainment industry. Check it out and leave your comments below.
- Darren
With the internet more rife with pirates than a Johnny Depp movie, we all know illegal downloading exists, and Irish ISPs and their reactions to sites like The Pirate Bay have been hitting the headlines over the last few weeks. The music industry in particular are doing their best to clamp down on piracy and illegal downloads, but let’s be realistic: internet piracy will probably never be completely eliminated, at least not until the ultimate cause gets nipped in the bud. So is piracy the result of consumer greed, or in some ways, have the entertainment industry been too slow to move into the digital age and created a situation of their own delayed action?
While we can assume that there will still be a group of hardcore illegal types who will download content regardless of availability, the entertainment industry isn’t doing itself any favours with some drastically disparate release dates around the world. In some cases, it’s understandable: there’s often language issues and things that need translating, but it’s also the case that the same album will, for no apparent reason, come out here in Ireland before or after appearing on the shelves of our UK neighbours. When it comes to the big screen, the delays are even more obvious, with the exact same movie taking months to traverse the Atlantic.
Such is the case with Pixar’s Up, which we can expect to see in cinemas mid-October, coinciding with the inevitable mid-term break from school’s and ensuring that the film will maximise its audience within the kiddiesphere. But the same movie was released in May over in the States, and by the time it hits screens over here, will already be in the homes of our American cousins. To be fair, the film was seen in Europe first (at Cannes) but what interest the premiere generated amongst those of us who don’t have seasonal holidays will probably have passed by October. It’s a bold move for Pixar, with their last movie Wall-E proving much more successful with adults than with kids, the same adults who have probably either already downloaded the film, or will be steering clear of the cinema on opening week until they can see the film in peace.
There’s a similar delay with District 9, opening next week in the UK and Ireland at which stage it will be winding down in American cinemas after three weeks riding the top of the charts. The blogosphere was hopping when the film opened, praising its dark story and effects, but all that’s died down now. It remains to be seen how the film will open over here, but no amount of TV ads will sell the film more than a personal recommendation, especially when your date’s going to prefer to see The September Issue.
These delays aren’t just confined to movies, and there’s been a long-standing rivalry between the UK and Irish music industries regarding release dates of CD albums, usually hitting stores here on a Friday before the typical Monday release there. The popularity of legal downloading through Amazon or iTunes has balanced this out, with many albums becoming available on a Tuesday or Sunday, but even this delay has to affect the album’s sales. After all, if someone were to buy the physical disc on a Friday and upload it to a file-sharing service, how many downloads could be completed before the album goes legally live on Sunday? That’s not to say that many music fans won’t buy the CD, or download the higher quality product from a legal source once it becomes available to them, but how fair is it that one hardcore fan gets to listen to the album at length long before someone else can?
The entertainment industry has been quick to embrace the positive aspects of the internet, making trailers available on-line even before they’re seen in cinemas and it’s not unheard of for artists to stream new albums through Spotify, Napster or Myspace to generate some interest before they become available. But they’ve also been slow to acknowledge the double-edged sword that goes hand-in-hand with internet marketing: even by delaying the release of a new album or movie by a couple of weeks, you run the risk of missing out on the all-important hype driven by word-of-mouth, especially with people using Twitter or Facebook from their mobile phone, letting all their friends know what they think of a new movie before they’ve even left the cinema. In other words, you’re running the risk of over-selling your product, making it so desirable that people just can’t wait, and turn to the illegal source when it’s not available legally.
Some movies released this year have embraced a global release and it certainly hasn’t affected their takings at the box office: production is already underway on sequels for both Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, with the latter even falling victim to a leaked production reel and some poor reviews that, nonetheless, left its takings unfazed. Yet this leak got over a million downloads in its first couple of days being on-line, and it’s fair to say that at least some of those who downloaded never checked the film out in the cinema.
It’s potentially good news for audiences, and maybe studios will take these movies as their cue, releasing 2010′s big films in much the same way. Like all industries, piracy operates on a basis of supply and demand, and the entertainment industry should be flattered that demand for their goods is so high. But they should also learn that they’re never going to truly combat illegal downloading until they’re prepared to do the supplying.
It’s bothered me for years that release dates can be so far apart for new releases in different countries. It used to be the same for TV shows. I remember when 24 aired over here a year after it first aired in the US. The most recent season however was only 2 weeks behind the US. The industry is showing signs of catching up, but it’s slow.
I agree that the disperate release dates affects the desirability of a product and that people will turn to downloading in lots of case’s as the americans continue the lead the trend of buy and upload.
However it truly isnt the whole cause and certainly even worldwide releases wont stop piracy even if it “might” reduce it some.
PR company’s launch music vid’s of most of their new albums on the likes of youtube and you can download lead singles through video 2 audio ripping services (free of course) and of course the law isnt exactly clear on the downloading matter where in fact it may be entirely legal to download, its the uploading that illegal.
Not to mention the censorship of the internet that somehow the music industry is starting to be able to put on the ISP’s in ireland and what you really have here is the greed of the media management companies causing a permanent backlash from consumers unhappy with paying differing prices for album between HMV and GoldenDiscs and each one only a few metres apart, Differing prices to buy the disc online, even cheaper again if you buy online abroad, even cheaper again if you dont buy the disc and just buy digital.
There is no clarity in the music industry, you buy one CD and next week a special edition of the same CD with bonus’s comes out, no matter what you do you seem to get left short changed. So why give your money to these greedy companies whom barely give a few percent of the earnings to the band.
Personally i think the music should be free, 1 free CD with every person that buys a gig ticket, with every online tshirt bought, if the music will just be pirated anyway, remove the possibilty or incentivise a purchase.
god forbid the record companies realise there might be tight pockets at the moment and if they thought piracy was bad, just give it a few months and check the stats then
Aidan
Goldenplec.com
Did not know that Europe had to wait so long for films and tv shows from the US to become available there. That rather sucks. Global releases should be the norm, but how can you get that to happen, not sure.
Speaking from a largely Australian point of view, and basing this largely on my experiences with games, films and (most predominantly) television series, I have always been surprised that piracy isn’t even more widespread.
When you look at the release dates on films which are often a few weeks to several months behind the US release, games which may take over a year to grace Aussie shores (Super Smash Bros. Brawl an example that springs to mind) and TV series which are treated so appallingly by Australian network television (episodes of Stargate which were simply not shown, entire seasons of programs coming late - Dexter and Six Feet Under - or series never being acquired at all); it really does make me concerned that outside the US, nobody is considered at all.
Since the entertainment industry (being the RIAA, FACT mentioned below and large Film/TV studios) is largely where the pressure comes from on international governments perhaps the better option than to condemn piracy as theft, a murky distinction if I ever saw one, is to attempt to look at the motivating factors like Ken has said.
In the UK where I currently live, ISPs are under pressure from government (although not all of the government, as the day the current leaders of this nation can form a cohesive opinion on any given matter will be a cold day in hell indeed) who in turn are under pressure from the ‘entertainment industry’ to suspend the internet of those suspected of trafficking in illegal file share.
The parts of this which hit me most horrendously are ‘ISP’s suspending’ and ‘suspected’. If piracy is indeed illegal, then it is a matter for courts to deal with, not for private companies, with the influence of the RIAA and the notoriously gestapo-esque Federation Against Copyright Theft (who deserve an entry all on their own in regards to their heavy-handed, mis-representational (I know that isn’t a word) and borderline illegal activities).
People will always want things now, and for as little as possible. It’s a general part of the human condition and one that will not be erased by misguided legislation. Instead we need to encourage people to do the right thing by ensuring that the currently ubiquitous ‘America is where the money is so everyone else is less than unimportant’ attitude is what we stamp out.
If all films and games are available, everywhere, at the same time, for a reasonable price (the cost of films has increased exponentially in recent years while the quality has not), then there is less reason to pirate. If DVD releases are brought up to a reasonable time-frame, for a decent price, then there is less reason to pirate. If TV series are available, worldwide, within a certain window (I’m not saying the same day, but studios waiting two years leaves nobody to blame for piracy but themselves), for free (and the free part is important because advertising + subscriptions = angry viewers) then there is less reason to pirate.
Give the public what they want, as Ken said, and they will reward you for it, but if you jerk them around then what do you expect.
Great article Ken; I hope to see more of you around Culch.ie.
H
“Like all industries, piracy operates on a basis of supply and demand, and the entertainment industry should be flattered that demand for their goods is so high”
Nice spin on that Ken.
I agree that a huge culprit of piracy is the disparity in release dates. It’s a concurrent world we live in with reviews, opiniins and spoilers on movies available at the simplest click of a button. It’s all very well and good to say that if you don’t want to see spoilers then avoid reviews but we all know how hard that is following the Wolverine incident.
The flip side of that is if it’s a great movie receiving accolades and kudos in the States people don’t want to have to wait 4 months before the chance arises to see it here.
Cinema prices are another thing that need to be addressed. The Cineworld card is a blessing but living outside Dublin means that often it’s €20 odd euro thrown away each month because the oportunity to get to the cinema doesn’t arise. I’m not saying that all cinemas need to offer such a service and obviously there are overheads to be considered but €10 a ticket is pretty damn steep and increases all the more the temptation to click on that little “download now” button.
(Great post btw)
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Excellent stuff Ken, Welcome
Great post.
I did like the study that was done recently by the Norwegians showing that downloaders are much more likely to buy legitimate media than non-downloaders. It really just goes to show that if the content is worth paying for most probably will.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pirates-buy-more-music
The varying release dates has always been the issue for me also. promoting your film over the internet should surely lead to some sort of eventual viewing forum over the internet. no?
People want to recieve their media in the easiest way possible and downloading something to be watched at your own convenience is more attractive than having to be in front of the TV at a certain time every week. Web players are a step in the right direction however they are still restricted by physical borders. It’s ridiculous that we can English watch channels here but can’t use 4oD or the BBC iPlayer. While rights holders continue to restrisct their content through staggered releases and based on physical borders piracy will remain the practical solution for the majority of people.
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