(This article written in 2011 - yet still relevant, given Pirate Bay co-founder was arrested 31st May, 2014. See
News story.)
An employee of a cigarette company
learns of a way to steal a truckload of cigarettes. He contacts a friend to
arrange the theft and they agree on a percentage cut. The friend hires two guys
to actually do the thieving. The cigarettes are then given to a bunch of other,
less important people to distribute them, mainly to people who can't afford
them who want the cheaper cigarettes, but really anyone willing to take them.
That's thousands of people.
The cigarette company discovers the
theft. They decide to then sue. Not the people who did the theft, or the
distribution, but Joe up the road who smoked one of their cigarettes.
This is the ridiculous situation
that eventuated on the 5th November, 2010 when a US federal court
ordered a single mom pay 1.5 million dollars for downloading 24 songs, (or
about $750,000 per CD had she stolen it from a shop).
Would Joe being rapped on the
knuckles, albeit with a gigantic rap, prevent every single person from smoking
a cigarette? I don't think so.
If they really want to do something
about illegal downloading, they have to do much better than this. While it's on
offer, people will take it, no matter how much you enforce cheap, bullying
tactics.
Clearly the music (and film) industries
are at a complete loss as to how to stop file sharing. They've had over ten
years now. And this is the best they can come up with?
In 2009, the Pirate Bay was
successfully sued in Europe. Yet every time one of these sites is shut down,
anther two open. There are so many sites on offer it’s impossible to stop them
all. We are bombarded relentlessly (at least in Australia) by how much money
the entertainment industry is losing and particularly trying to make us feel
guilty by stressing how much the artists are suffering. If they really cared
about the artists they would up the pitiful percentage they receive from their
record labels. Most music artists receive between 8% to 15% share. The reality is, these industries are making
record profits, with DVD and cinema profits sales increasing every year.
|
from 2012 |
Here's the real deal. If something
is offered for free, most people will take it, even if they don't really want it. If
you ask them to pay full price for the same thing, most won't. For example, a 100
people download an album. The music industry times that by the cost, say $20
and then claim they have lost $2000. I say bullshit. I say perhaps 5 people
really wanted it, but only 2 would have actually gone out and bought it. Therefore the reality is the industry lost $40. I'm not saying it's right. It isn't. But they need to stop with the
propaganda. And while they're there, restructure the industry so that there's a
more of an even distribution of wealth, especially in the digital age.
You can't shoot all the smokers in
order to stop people from smoking. The onus belongs with the manufactures. The debate continues.
(This article does not necessarily represent my own viewing/purchasing habits.)
Some sources:
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2010/07/the_root_investigates_who_really_gets_paid_in_the_music_industry.html
http://if.com.au/2014/03/31/article/Revenues-down-up-profits-up-at-Oz-cinemas/RDEEFDUFUA.html
http://www.afr.com/p/business/marketing_media/suing_illegal_downloaders_not_effective_PbIiXyA1g9VNFOxzdW8vOP