Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Many people compare piracy to libraries, but this is a very misleading analogy. If 1000 libraries buy a copy of a book, that's 1000 sales for the author. Very often too, publishers produce special "library editions" of books which cost more than the normal book. If 1000 people download an illegally scanned copy of a book, that's zero sales for the author (well, perhaps 1 sale if you count the original book).
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Harry:
I appreciate where you are coming from in your desire to support the artists who provide us with such engaging creative content, believe me! I too wish to support them whenever I can. Unfortunately, in today's "creative content distribution model" the artist is often left out of the revenue stream altogether. Unless they become a well known name able to leverage that popularity with their publisher, most writers aren't going to become rich off of their work. The term "starving artist" is well known for a reason.
About your comments concerning library's and the thought that it is misleading to compare them to peer to peer file sharing, I must respectfully disagree. They are a very good analogy! It's quite easy to see that libraries are good for writers and the publishing industry because they offer an avenue for their product to be exposed to a wider audience than their own distribution model allows. How often have you found an author at the library that you enjoyed and then wanted to read more of? I know I have often, and I ended up checking out more of that authors books, and also went and bought copies of their works with my hard earned cash. I would never have known about, read, or cared about the author if not for my local library, and the ability to sample their work for free before purchasing it. It is a pure misconcpetion that P2P file sharing hurts publishers and the recording industry. IMHO, the opposite is the case, and there are studies which support this view. I submit this link of an article from 2000, during the height of the Napster debate for your perusal:
http://news.com.com/Study+finds+Naps..._3-241065.html
I'll quote one part in particular
Quote:
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As reported earlier, SoundScan division VNU Marketing tested the theory by looking specifically at sales in stores near universities, where online music has been more widely adopted than in the general public. In those stores, SoundScan data shows that record sales have actually dropped 4 percent in the past two years. In stores near the 67 colleges that have banned Napster, citing an overload on their internal networks, sales have dropped 7 percent in two years.
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In other words, according to the recording industry's own study, stores located near campuses where Napster was allowed and widely used were better than those at stores near campuses that banned the use of Napster. This makes complete sense, because such sharing networks create a community of like minded people who share an enjoyment of particular creative media. Such a community would tend to increase exposure to other materials that would otherwise never have happened, much like your local library exposes you to authors you never would have otherwise known about.
Perhaps the biggest problem I have with those that vehemently opposed to P2P file sharing is the assumption that people who do so, never purchase physical copies of the material they pirate. As someone who has indulged in such activity, I can absolutely refute that assumption. I spend a great deal of my own money on books, DVD's, CD's, and video games. More than most folks I suspect because through P2P file sharing, I have expanded my tastes and selections. Are there those who only pirate and never purchase? Of course there are, but I submit they would never have been purchasers in the first place! Only in the feeble mind of Record Company Executive or Publishing House Owner are sales they never would have made in the first place considered a loss.
Here's a link to a an excellent blogger who summed up my feelings about the recording industry and their war on P2P file sharing. I hope you take a look because it is excellently written and a good overview of the history of music piracy.
http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/1...-birth-of.html