We Gave People an iPad 2, Told Them It Was the New iPad, and They Loved It

[rocketpig]

Mr Khan said:

rocketpig said:

Erisian said:
Come come now. You talk of strawman arguments argument in the same breath as referring to illegal downloads as Stealing? No that won't fly.

Sigh. An argument I hear constantly from people who don't create intellectual property. It's stealing. Go out and create something. See people using it without your permission and without paying for it. Then come back and tell me whether you think it's stealing. Dude, I'm about as laid back as it gets when it comes to piracy and people still take my (DRM-free and sometimes, free altogether) shit and use it however they like without my permission. There is a sense of entitlement when it comes to piracy that is really fuckin' aggravating, man. A complete disregard for the work put forth by others. I'm not saying you're one of those kinds of pirates, but when you try to tell me you're not stealing something when you pirate, it's hard not to categorize you that way.

Just be honest with what you're doing. You're using others' work without permission and without payment. That's stealing, period.

Theft implies a victim, however. The bulk of piracy is victimless on economic grounds.

And that is one of the biggest faults with Big Media's complaints about piracy, which makes it difficult to swallow their more salient points on how it damages the industry. Though to claim "the bulk" is victimless on economic grounds is just as speculative as their claims that everything is a lost sale.

I'll add that economic grounds are not the only ones worth noting in piracy, though. A pirate is profiting intellectually from the stolen good. While it's not as damaging to the creator as the loss of money from the piracy, it's still worth mentioning.

But these are side points, really. My main problem with piracy is that there are people, like the person I was debating earlier, who say "pirates spend more at concerts". This statement bothers me on many levels. Do pirates spend more? Possibly, but they don't go to concerts, buy shirts, merchandise, etc. from every band they pirate and they certainly don't spend the equivalent amount of money on said band. In my experience, pirates rarely spend anything close to the equivalent amount of money of what they pirate. A larger percentage of their money goes to the artist in question, for sure. But is it enough to balance the economic gulf caused by the piracy in the first place? Unlikely. Almost all stastical and observational evidence points toward a resounding "NO".

Say I'm at a comic convention. A dude walks up to me and says "Hey man, love your book but I pirated it. But I totally dig your stuff so here's $50. I want you to draw me a picture of Wolverine." Totally cool. The guy is giving back MORE than he would have given if he had purchased the book in the first place. But I guarantee you that the guy doesn't do that for every artist he pirates, nor does he turn around and spend $500 on commissioned art to compensate for the, say, $1000 he pirated in books. If he spends even 1/10th of what he pirated, I'd be shocked. People don't seem to realize how much of a negative effect piracy can have on the artists you respect and admire, particularly the fringe artists. It's really fucking hard to make it as an artist. Lady GaGa couldn't give a shit about your pirated album and nobody gives a shit about Lady GaGa's financial situation in 2012. But are you also pirating LCD Soundsystem without making sure you give back to the band in another way? What about Fleet Foxes? Cold Cave? Continue ad nauseum. Because I guarantee you that those bands do care about lost revenue and it really hurts them to see their work pirated, enough to the point that it could cause a struggling artist to quit and pursue a more traditional career just to pay the rent.

Hey, I understand piracy. I do it myself at times. There are real reasons to stick it to the music, movie, and television industries. They are purebred douchebags to their very core. But I hear a lot of excuses by pirates about how they give back in other ways or how they believe it's a victimless crime, blah blah blah. To some, it is. To others, it most certainly is not. All I ask is that people take the time to consider how their piracy affects the artists they truly admire and whether they're doing enough to ensure that those respected artists make enough money to continue doing their work. Because, while there are considerate pirates out there for sure, about 95% of piracy exists solely because people like getting free shit with no regard given to the people whose financial outlooks are seriously damaged by piracy and theft.

I sometimes worry that an entire generation is being raised without any kind of respect for the amount of work it requires to become an artist and be good enough to have it financially support continued works. And that's sad because if people don't take a moment to think how to support artists they respect, those artists may quit and/or be swallowed up by some corporate whore on a level unsee even today.