French ‘Three Strikes’ Law Slashes Piracy, But Fails to Boost Sales

[xg4bx]

"A new report on the effectiveness of the French three-strikes anti-piracy law claims that it managed to cut Internet piracy in half last year. While lobbyists are making preparations to show these great results to politicians worldwide, there is one thing the report fails to mention. Despite the claimed decrease in piracy, revenues through legal channels are down as well. This is strange, because in previous years these losses were solely attributed to piracy."

"The report goes on to cite a variety of statistics ranging from a 29 percent decrease in visits to “pirate” sites in 2011, to a 66 percent drop in illegal file-sharing traffic in France in the same period. Impressive figures indeed, and Hadopi is quick to point out that it’s directly related to their three-strikes law.

While we’re not going to dispute the validity of the provided statistics, it is worth pointing out that there’s something missing from the report. Something big.

For more than a decade the entertainment industry has claimed that digital piracy is the main cause for the gradual decline in revenues. So if piracy is down massively in France, one would expect that the revenues are soaring, right? But they’re not.

If we look at the French music industry we see that overall revenues were down by 3.9 percent in 2011.

Likewise, the French movie industry is still going through a rough period with revenues dropping 2.7 percent in 2011. Ironically, an industry insider even blamed online piracy for this drop."

http://torrentfreak.com/french-three...-sales-120330/




mods:this is the only link currently out there for this story. despite the name it isn't a file or torrent hosting site. however if it is a problem please remove the offending link.

[speakingtohe]

Kind of goes to show that people who pirate don't generally buy. Perhaps they have taken up golf or tennis.

Helen

[afv011]

I wonder if people have really stopped piracy or simply learnt to cover their tracks better.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by afv011

I wonder if people have really stopped piracy or simply learnt to cover their tracks better.

Some of them, no doubt. But most people probably won't bother.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by afv011

I wonder if people have really stopped piracy or simply learnt to cover their tracks better.

Try to trace a sneakernet transaction.

[SeaKing]

France was bound to make a mess of it and get the wrong results

There is a long tradition.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by afv011

I wonder if people have really stopped piracy or simply learnt to cover their tracks better.

Moved away from public torrents and towards more private sites or direct downloads.

This proves very little really.

[spellbanisher]

Europes economy is receding back into recession. It should be no surprise that a recession followed by stagnation followed by another recession is eventually leading to a decline in media sales.

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

Europes economy is receding back into recession. It should be no surprise that a recession followed by stagnation followed by another recession is eventually leading to a decline in media sales.

Agreed, but it is a most interesting datum. One wonders, how much causal infringment acted as advertising? Ther is acnedontal evidence from a few authors (Eric Flint, for example) that "piracy" of their works acted as cheap advertising...

The longer term trend will be even more interesting....

[teh603]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Kind of goes to show that people who pirate don't generally buy. Perhaps they have taken up golf or tennis.

In tomorrow's news: used book stores outlawed for stealing sales from Big Media.

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

France was bound to make a mess of it and get the wrong results

There is a long tradition.

You really stay true to your reputation, Seaking.

The shear ignorance of some americans never ceases to amaze me.
Thank God I do not generalize about the US as you do about France or even Europe.

Regarding the OT, a deeper look at the media source made me chuckle...

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by aceflor

You really stay true to your reputation, Seaking.

The shear ignorance of some americans never ceases to amaze me.
Thank God I do not generalize about the US as you do about France or even Europe.

Regarding the OT, a deeper look at the media source made me chuckle...

Perhaps Seaking was thinking of Dominique Strauss-Kahn?

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Originally Posted by aceflor

You really stay true to your reputation, Seaking.

The shear ignorance of some americans never ceases to amaze me.
Thank God I do not generalize about the US as you do about France or even Europe.

Regarding the OT, a deeper look at the media source made me chuckle...

Why? Are their facts wrong? If they aren't, the source shouldn't matter...

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Perhaps Seaking was thinking of Dominique Strauss-Kahn?

It is probably the only french person he would know of .....

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Why? Are their facts wrong? If they aren't, the source shouldn't matter...

One lobby group biased presentation of the also biased work of an opposite lobby group does not "bake" a valid news article. Never has, never will.

As your sig says so à propos : "Remember, no matter what they say, people don't want the truth, just their prejudices reinforced."

I agree with sabredog, and being french myself, in this particular case, I really know what I am talking about.

[Keroberos]

Kind of goes to show that people who pirate don't generally buy.

Actually, I've seen many studies that say the exact opposite, that many that freely download some of their media, purchase just as much if not more than everyone else. The others, who can't/won't purchase are irrelevant because nothing you do will make, convince, or give them the capability to buy.

I wonder if people have really stopped piracy or simply learnt to cover their tracks better.

Should be relatively easy to find out. Look at France's cumulative internet traffic, if it's gone down downloading has slowed, if it's stayed the same people have found ways to cover their tracks.

Speaking as someone who has consumed lots of free media (books, music, videos, and video games from the public library), I highly doubt I would increase my spending on media if that source was shut down. In fact I would probably spend less since most of my purchases were based on discovering things I like from the library (and other free sources).