Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Can you explain how pirating will result in the artist receiving more of the revenues?
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By that, I meant that people regard "low royalty rates" as an issue and an alleged reason they will "never give a publisher / record label any money."
Radiohead self-released
In Rainbows, so they received 100% of the revenues from the downloads. However the album was still heavily pirated.
My basic theory though is that most people have an emotional reaction
first and apply rational justifications
second. E.g. someone lists price X, you don't want to pay X, and you start piling on reasons why X is too high.
So, I don't think people regard piracy as a direct solution to the "low artist revenue" problem. I generally believe that what's happening with piracy is closer to the following:
• The overwhelming majority of people don't know or care about any of the intricacies of copyright.
• Or, they just don't think there is anything wrong with it, because they aren't taking a physical object.
• Some people are just already accustomed to using torrents and other methods rather than any legit services.
• Many pirates just want free stuff.
• A handful of the "want free stuff" actually bother to (most likely, subconsciously) rationalize their actions using whatever aspersion are at hand.
My feeling is that the people who are highly principled on the issues I listed are more likely to put effort into finding and patronizing alternate legit sources that match their requirements -- e.g. DRM-free, self-published work.