I wonder...
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Bob_Robertson Dec 14, 2007 7:28 AM EDT |
How can studios and record distributors announce record profits, and then complain about "piracy"? What makes them think that someone who will not buy a movie today, will buy a movie tomorrow if it's illegal to copy it? Maybe they'll just see it in the theater. Maybe they'll just rent it. Or maybe, just maybe, prohibition doesn't work for computer files any more than it worked for alcohol. It merely creates a new class of criminal. (with a nod to Ayn Rand) One solid datapoint that cannot be ignored: Every obscure economics text that is put on Mises.org for free has sales of their dead-tree version increase. When Tolkien's works were being published only in the UK, the publisher noticed pirate copies being sold like crazy in the US, so they published it there too (with a ready-made market). Japanese anime and manga publishers, and their "licensees", closely watch the popularity of fan-subtitled shows/scans to gage whether or not the title will make enough money to be worth the high cost of licensing/translating/publishing/distributing in a particular language. BTW, even with rentals, aren't theaters making more money than ever? |
| dinotrac Dec 14, 2007 7:51 AM EDT |
Bob - Do you meant theaters or studios? I'm not sure how theaters are doing this year, but I'll bet they could be better. Most movies these days seem to go for a big opening weekend and lots of business in the first few weeks. That's a problem for theater owners because theater profits run on a sliding scale from about 10/90 on opening day to 90/10 at the end of a long run. For lots of theaters, movies aren't their main profit center: concessions are. Check out the numbers some time and you'll see that revenue dollars don't equate to seats in the theatre. Ticket prices go up so revenues go up even when viewership declines. Maybe not a bad deal for the movie-makers, but those theatres who depend on concessions to make their real money now have fewer patrons to make money from. What a lovely position they're in: raise concession prices along with ticket prices and discover that more people would rather rent films to see on their big-screen TV at home, or take smaller profits. What any of that has to do with piracy, I don't know, but movie theaters are not in a great position right now. |
| Bob_Robertson Dec 14, 2007 8:09 AM EDT |
> That's a problem for theater owners because theater profits run on a sliding scale from about 10/90 on opening day to 90/10 at the end of a long run. I haven't seen a "long run" show anywhere in a decade. If I don't get there in 3 weeks, the show is gone. I did mean studios, in terms of the theatrical release, not in terms of the rental and home-purchase release. For an "industry in crisis" they sure make one heck of a lot of money. Did you see Jon Stewart's send-up at the 2006 Academy Awards? Priceless! "Some of these women couldn't even afford enough clothing to cover their breasts." http://thatvideosite.com/video/1769 |
| Sander_Marechal Dec 14, 2007 2:44 PM EDT |
Required reading for everyone (yes, all 8 pages): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/23/orlowski_interactive... To recap an 8-page story into a few sentences: For $27 per household per *year*, or $5 per month per broadband connection, the music and movie biz would be richer that they've ever been, get a never-ending pot of gold and everyone would be able to legally download and share everything they wanted. France tried to implement it a year ago. The RIAA/MPAA through the French copyright associations managed to smack it down. "Insane" is about the only word I have for them, after reading the above article. Someone offered to make them rich for free and they declined!? |
| jezuch Dec 14, 2007 2:53 PM EDT |
Quoting:Someone offered to make them rich for free and they declined!? Three words: not rich enough. Or so it seems. |
| Sander_Marechal Dec 14, 2007 3:10 PM EDT |
Quoting:not rich enough France: About 65 million inhabitants. Broadband penetration is about 27%. That's about 17.55 million broadband connections, or slightly over one billion dollar (US$1,053,000,000) a year. For doing absolutely nothing. Unfortunately I cannot find how much the French RIAA/MPAA currently make. |
| NoDough Dec 15, 2007 3:53 PM EDT |
>> France: About 65 million inhabitants. Broadband penetration is about 27%. That's about 17.55 million broadband connections, or slightly over one billion dollar (US$1,053,000,000) a year. For doing absolutely nothing. It seems a paid subscription for every broadband connection is presumed, which is not likely. I wouldn't pay it. In the alternative, if the government collects the subscription as a tax on broadband, then 100% opting to pay the added tax rather than dump their broadband is presumed. Again, not a safe presumption. Still, the numbers are impressive. However, when people commit themselves to a model (even a broken model,) and fight as hard to keep it as the MAFIAA has, then they will often continue that fight beyond reason. |
| Sander_Marechal Dec 16, 2007 3:02 PM EDT |
It's intended as a tax. And even if a few people do give up their broadband connection, with a yearly growth of 5% that loss is quickly made up. |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!