The Great Copyright Holder Lie – Movies
"Every time media is downloaded, we lose a sale"
Woe is us!
Copyright Holders (CHs for short) have been moaning loud and long about "illegal Internet downloads". It has become the subject of numerous lawsuits and is their primary justification for the much hated Digitial Rights Management (DRM) technology.
When you think about movies and the incredible publicity that goes into opening weekends and box-office sales, you might first agree that downloading would be a serious problem, but is it true that every download impacts their bottom line? In a word, not a freaking chance in hell no matter how much they think it does.
Downloaders can be broken into several groups, most of which cause no financial problem for the CHs.
Some wouldn't have seen it anyway
Even if you had a morbid fascination with a movie that was as terrible as (insert any cartoon-to-live-action movie title here), you'd be damned if you'll spend any money on it or even allow it a spot in your Netflix queue. On the other hand, you might just be legitimately interested in the movie, but afraid of what other people said about it so downloading gives you a chance to be sure without the emotional (and monetary) investment.
Clearly, anyone who does this wouldn't have seen it, bought it, or rented it anyway.
Some will see it no matter what
You know those die-hard fans/collectors (think sci-fi, anime, and fantasy geeks)? Even if they download the pre-release leaked copy of (insert geek thrill film name here), they'll still be in line at the theater the night before the movie opens in full costume.
There are also people who still believe that the "theater experience" is worth it (especially if they can't afford a nice home theater system, but then how do they afford 8 dollar tubs of popcorn… but I digress). Still others consider it a social exercise such as the mallrat teens looking for something fun to do. Don't forget stressed out mothers and fathers looking to get the kids out of the house for a while (Spongebob Movie Ho!). And of course you have any given couple that's looking to spend some quality time together who go to a movie then discuss it over dinner.
In each of these cases, some downloading may have occurred, but the movie still made money. Huzzah.
Some will buy it no matter what
The theater is far from the only way a movie makes money. There are also DVD purchases and rentals where a movie can live, zombie-like, for eternity. There's such a thing as a "Cult following" which produced the terms "Cult Classics" which you'll see as its very own section in the movie store filled with movies typically so bad or weird that you'd have to be brainwashed to enjoy them.
That brings us back to our geek/collectors (now cultists). Not only will they watch the movie in the theater (possibly multiple times), hese guys will buy any box set or DVD they can find that has a cool cover, lots of extras, and especially (stop my geeky heart!) figurines! For them it's more about filling their media shelf with cool looking trophies and downloads alone can't do that. So even if they download it, they're still going to fork out cash at some point.
And in the case of the people who spends thousands on home audio and home theater equipment, you know, the kind that keep Bose stores in business. At best they might download a song or movie to "try it out", but if they truly like it, they'll find the best possible copy so as not to put their huge investment to waste on inferior media.
Some are replacing legally purchased goods
In the first case, a home user might want to only watch back-up copies of their beloved collector's edition of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. But if they find difficulty in copying due to DRM, they might download a clean copy instead from someone smart enough to bypass or remove the restrictive BS.
Lost, broken, or stolen. Who would honestly object to someone downloading a replacement (except greedy corporations who would probably do the same thing personally)In the second case, Mom may have foolishly allowed the kids to handle the DVDs and after 40 days straight of watching Barbie Fairytopia, it breaks. Mom might then download a replacement after-the-fact of a legitimately owned copy of the movie.
And of course there's the issue of it having become lost or stolen. When some a-hole jacks your DVD wallet, the CH's will have a tantrum, but any normal person would hardly argue with someone downloading a replacement. They bought it and there's no reason they should have to buy it again because of some low-life frog-wanking loser thief.
Downloading what the CH doesn't sell
Have you ever tore at your eyes, ears bleeding listening to the horrific dubbing job done by American companies to foreign films? Have you ever been stiffly offended at a company altering a movie either due to political pressure or the mania of the director? If so then you understand the mentality of someone who will download non-standard/original copy of a movie.
If getting an unaltered version that's actually watchable can only be done through downloads, then who's complaining? If you (the CH) don't like it, offer what the fans want!
Actual lost sales… maybe
I already made this point in the music write-up, but the fact is that even the vicious downloading heathens can bring profit by way of advertising for you. For example, someone downloads Iron-man and goes on and on about it to everyone they know and everyone they don't like some kind of door-to-door salesman pitching a cross of religion and vacuum cleaners.
Even the vicious downloading heathens can bring profit by way of advertising for youBetter yet, they'll get online and increase the hype about the movie through blogs, forums, and social sites causing even greater awareness than you had which is important if your movie is little known.
Best of all, if they become a truly rabid fan, they could build a fan site or perhaps even a Youtube video of them pitifully re-enacting a scene from the movie which goes viral causing your notoriety to skyrocket.
Actual lost sales… for real
So in the end after subtracting a substantial amount of downloaders who either don't hurt the bottom line or actually help it, you're left with some small percentage that's hardly worth crying into your piles of cash about (you big CH sissies!).
Either way, don't be surprised when we look at your pitiful pleas for us to "not steal a handbag" and instead mock you for your ludicrousness.
But the answer to your problems as a CH isn't to tighten the grip further with more and worse forms of DRM, it's to provide good, legal alternatives that are cheap, easy, and high quality as well as to give us a reason to bother going to the theater instead of downloading or, god forbid, waiting for it to come out on DVD.
Your cheap restrictive tactics are annoying at best and will spurn open revolt at worst. At which point we all sit back and laugh hysterically at your failure.
| What exactly IS DRM and why is it such a bad thing? |
| We should all get to profit from and control our creations, but there are many reasons why we support the hackers and not the copyright holderss |
| The great lie told about movie downloads and why it's wrong. |
| The great lie told about music downloads and why it's wrong. |
| The great lie told about software downloads and why it's wrong. |
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