What Piracy? The Entertainment Industry is Booming

So as it turns out, all of those people who say Piracy is killing the entertainment industry are dead wrong, and the only reason they are saying things now is to usher in their own agenda of internet control.

The report titled “The Sky is Rising” was presented at the MIDEM music business conference earlier today.

A summary of some of the key findings:

* According to MPAA, box office revenues grew 25 percent from 2006 to 2010 from $25.5 billion to $31.8 billion.

* Data from PricewaterhouseCoopers and iDATE show that from 1998-2010 the value of the worldwide entertainment industry grew from $449 billion to $745 billion.

* From 1999 to 2009 music concert sales in the US tripled from $1.5 billion to $4.6 billion

* Consumers’ choices growing as more movies are produced jumping from 5,635 films produced globally in 2005 to 7,193 in 2009.

* BLS data also show entertainment sector employment also grew 20 percent during that last decade and 43 percent for those identified as independent artists.

Source

So why are they saying that piracy is killing the entertainment industry?
We can only speculate on the matter but i can tell you my thoughts on why. Internet censorship will be in entertainments hands, another way to rob poor families of whatever money they have left, another form of fear and control. Its not going to stop the internet,

I say BRING IT ON. The more they do, the more the masses start to figure it out, the harder they push, the harder we are going to push back. Its stupid to think that we are all going to lay back and accept what the government pushes in our faces any longer. The time has come, and this year will be a good year, some good things will happen, some bad things will happen, but the end result will be freedom from the oligarchy.

The oligarchy is censoring the web, via their ties in government and their enormous wealth. So they can try to make more money (won't work, it will just end up as several thousand people boycotting the entertainment industry entirely.

Piracy hurts the entertainment industry? Please lie to someone who falls for it.

Other sources:
gigaom2.files.wordpress.com...

You are dead wrong. I used to collect 6 figure royalties just a little over 10 years ago. Now? Almost nothing. But I still oppose SOPA PIPA ACTA etc... So don't try to spin it like we aren't affected by illegal downloading... Call it what it is, the government exploiting yet another real problem in ways to advance their own agendas.

best comment lol. so true

Most of the crap the "entertainment industry" produces isn't even worth stealing.

Originally posted by binkbonk
You are dead wrong. I used to collect 6 figure royalties just a little over 10 years ago. Now? Almost nothing. But I still oppose SOPA PIPA ACTA etc... So don't try to spin it like we aren't affected by illegal downloading... Call it what it is, the government exploiting yet another real problem in ways to advance their own agendas.

Figures from the offices and financial sectors of those industries themselves state that there is no problem with their profits. A little over 10 years ago american money was worth a little more than it is today.

So its not the question of 'Is piracy hurting me financially', it turns into 'Why is the entertainment industry racking in so much money, yet my royalties have been steadily dropping',

Im not spinning anything, i saw the information, and i gave my opinion and interpretation about that information. You want spin need only look at the mainstream news. I bet they are all over the "ACTA AND PIPA IS GOOD FOR YOU", Heh.

Originally posted by jazzguy
best comment lol. so true

Most of the crap the "entertainment industry" produces isn't even worth stealing.

Hahaha, you are right in that regard too,
If there was some really good music these days, i'd buy it too. I buy stuff that i like, and that is seldom these days because i hardly like any of the music around anymore.

Akon? Like some songs, not enough to justify buying it.
Beethoven? Bought it because i like classical music (go figure).
Skrillex? Love it, bought a CD online.

reply to post by binkbonk

You are dead wrong. I used to collect 6 figure royalties just a little over 10 years ago.

maybe you failed to realise Vanilla Ice isn´t hot anymore

just kidding yo.

but on a more serious note.

i think there are both pros and cons.

and the pros far outweigh the need for implementing acts like ACTA, PIPA and/or SOPA.
at least that's what i think.

'piracy' has put me in touch with artists i've otherwise wouldn't have come across.
it also has prevented me from buying a lot of #ty albums from artists who suddenly went far to mainstream for my taste.

so yeey for piracy

Originally posted by binkbonk
You are dead wrong. I used to collect 6 figure royalties just a little over 10 years ago. Now? Almost nothing. But I still oppose SOPA PIPA ACTA etc... So don't try to spin it like we aren't affected by illegal downloading... Call it what it is, the government exploiting yet another real problem in ways to advance their own agendas.

Nice post. I couldn't agree more. I don't download music but when I'm in the mood for some I go to YouTube. I haven't bought music in years. Why pay for the cow if the milk is free? Not exactly right but it's not stealing. The music stays on the site, not any electronic devices I may own but I still get the entertainment without cost.

reply to post by AzureSky

No, you are ignoring the fact that in the music industry (with the exception of a few very large profile artists), all the profits are coming from touring and live performances. You can't illegally download yourself into the front row of a concert.

The music industry, as far as music sales has been destroyed due to illegal music downloads. Every single record store has gone out of business i.e.; Tower Records, The Wharehouse, Music Plus, etc..

It's a ghost town. But, as I said, I do not support any of these anti-piracy bills because I can see them for what they really are... Even so, let's get our facts straight, ok guy?

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by binkbonk
You are dead wrong. I used to collect 6 figure royalties just a little over 10 years ago. Now? Almost nothing. But I still oppose SOPA PIPA ACTA etc... So don't try to spin it like we aren't affected by illegal downloading... Call it what it is, the government exploiting yet another real problem in ways to advance their own agendas.

Nice post. I couldn't agree more. I don't download music but when I'm in the mood for some I go to YouTube. I haven't bought music in years. Why pay for the cow if the milk is free? Not exactly right but it's not stealing. The music stays on the site, not any electronic devices I may own but I still get the entertainment without cost.

Thats what i find myself doing more and more, i usually just go to youtube and listen to my music. I dont have an mp3 player, my music library hasn't increased in a year or two. youtube.

Piracy can actually increase sales. Songs/movies/games are adverts for their own sales. Sure you can continue to implement further digital rights management but that just makes it more uncomfortable for the legit user and reduces sales and even respect for producer (anyone else got a legit DRM restricted game that has reached its install limit and now you have a useless game in your collection?). I for see the endgame will be only if the industry can remove all trust totally and implement a fully digital streaming service only through the internet on demand. Luckily the current IT infrastructure cannot support the required transfer rates. But if you look up the Intel documents on sandy bridge/ivy bridge ul see how they are using high encryption endpoint restriction of streamed DRM content. In the future I see a fiber optic internet DRM multimedia box that you have to have your finger print verified to turn it on and a real time retinal scan and face scan to make sure no one unauthorized walks in the room and sees content they have not paid for (or perhaps automatically charges them for the show). Perhaps they will even use multiple directional infrasonic speakers so that sound can only be beamed to the ears of those who have paid. Maybe once all regular piracy is eliminated they'l push to get more profits from the threat of second hand viewing and maybe add clauses so that if your bank account is empty when you accidentally walk in a room and see some restricted content an appointment is booked and you are legally required to have your organs harvested to pay for the viewed content at premium rate and + admin fee. Who knows where itl end. Technically listening to anything and then humming it/watching again in head is unauthorized duplication and viewing of pirated material. Perhaps ul be required to take drugs after watching it so that you are unable to remember/pirate it.

Originally posted by kn0wh0w
reply to post by binkbonk

 

'piracy' has put me in touch with artists i've otherwise wouldn't have come across.
it also has prevented me from buying a lot of #ty albums who suddenly went far to mainstream for my taste.

That is very true, and I realize that. I am grateful for that. But it still doesn't change the facts that the money is gone from the part of the music industry that relied on record sales.

I just think we should deal with facts, not spin.

Originally posted by binkbonk
reply to post by AzureSky

 

No, you are ignoring the fact that in the music industry (with the exception of a few very large profile artists), all the profits are coming from touring and live performances. You can't illegally download yourself into the front row of a concert.

The music industry, as far as music sales has been destroyed due to illegal music downloads. Every single record store has gone out of business i.e.; Tower Records, The Wharehouse, Music Plus, etc..

It's a ghost town. But, as I said, I do not support any of these anti-piracy bills because I can see them for what they really are... Even so, let's get our facts straight, ok guy?

You glanced by something that is also involved with this though, There is a correlation between downloads and the fail of some of the record companies. But it is not the main reason. to find the main reason you need to only look at your nearest wal-mart.

They have no problem selling music, considering its 'a few dollars' cheaper than your average record store.

I'm going by the information i have there, give me some relevant links so i can learn something and then maybe i'll be inclined to listen to you.

Blaming the demise of the record store on piracy is ignorant. The demise of small - medium businesses is directly caused by the introduction of department stores, like wal-mart.

What Piracy? The Entertainment Industry is Booming

There is, undoubtedly, some loss to the entertainment industry from file sharing and pirating. But the web has done far more to benefit them than harm them. They know this and they know that gaining nearly full, unrestricted control would make them wealthier still.

You can't have high dollar Hollywood drug dealers taking a financial hit because little Billy shared a song with a few of his pals.

The internet began with basically nothing but users and websites that were both out there for, and operated by those users. There was a time when you could search entire libraries of files... wav/sound files, image files, DLL files, drivers and programs and none of it cost a red cent. There were even free ISPs for a while. Users supported the web and each other in this way. There was a common interest that served everyone equally.

So, no, it did not begin as a marketing, for-profit bonanza. It got to this point because it was hijacked by the corporate. Even blogging today is no longer what it was because the MSM has all but ruined the concept of the independent citizen journalist.

SOPA was about control... about taking the internet away from the average users who made it into what they finally found out they wanted so badly.

Now, they just want it on THEIR terms only.

reply to post by AzureSky


What is piracy? Benefiting from someone elses creative work. How many songs these days are covers/remakes of older songs. How many movies are adaptions/remakes of older movies. Disney complains about piracy, yet their most famous films are adaptions of tales from the brohters grimm.......

the entertainment industry was built on piracy

reply to post by binkbonk


I would have to disagree, the record stores and that part of the music business were destroyed by mp3 and the like. I no longer have to go to a record store when I can just go to iTunes and download the music, for a price, right to my computer. The other thing that killed the music industry is MTV. After MTV it was no longer about the music, but the image the musicians were portraying.

reply to post by AzureSky
You are displaying your "need to be right", with which I can't argue. Due to illegal downloading, I suspect I have missed out on a collective 1 million dollars over the last 10 years. That said, my band has probably gained a million more fans than we would have without the internet. I am ok with this, I have accepted it... But, dude, Wallmart didn't take down Tower records, it's 100% due to illegal downloading.

reply to post by binkbonk


6 figure royalties aye , u should have made plenty of cash then no reason to complain there.
My opinion of the thing is the world changes people should deal with it instead of being all like in the good old days when we could monopolize things and earn vast sums of money.
It's a joke now the worlds opened up and competitions increasing their losing their monopoly bad for them good for everyone else it's going to be more difficult for the select few to cash in and easier for people to get a piece of the action that's if they'd stop trying to screw it up for everyone else.

reply to post by analalienprobe

I'm not complaining, I feel very fortunate.

Originally posted by binkbonk
reply to post by AzureSky

 

You are displaying your "need to be right", with which I can't argue. Due to illegal downloading, I suspect I have missed out on a collective 1 million dollars over the last 10 years. That said, my band has probably gained a million more fans than we would have without the internet. I am ok with this, I have accepted it... But, dude, Wallmart didn't take down Tower records, it's 100% due to illegal downloading.

So give me some links and sources that say this then.
It can't be 100% because of illegal downloading, its the digital age in general that destroyed having 'hard copies' of things, it would have all tanked regardless of illegal downloading. No one buys CD's anymore, no one needs to really. iTunes makes a whole lot of money from selling music the way they do, and that has saved the music industry and artists,
But i would prefer a marketing technique that allows most of the money made on something like itunes would actually make its way to the artist, im not sure of the percentages, but it sucked pretty bad.

But its just another division. Have the artists blame the poor so that the riaa can make off with all the dough, haha. That is why i have great respect for people who do things independently, thats what i like to buy, not some mainstream douchebags (lil wayne, 'the backstreet boys', and etc)

Here's an interesting article from the other day: www.theregister.co.uk...

The MPAA/RIAA, UMG, Warner Bros, and all the other big names who hate piracy to death... they know that they effectively profit from it, as of the free advertising. They love to hate it.

People who love a film, song, or another product are going to buy it in the end anyway. People purchase physical copies of artwork they love so they can hold onto it and watch/listen to it again and again. For instance someone may be curious about a new film, they will watch a cinema rip/overdub recording via an internet download and for the people that loved the film, they will go and rent/buy it when it is released on dvd to get the full experience in high quality.

Think about the other side of things, if that dubbed cinema recording wasn't online (in example above), the person in question may have never heard of or thought of purchasing the movie. This is fact, it happens all the time. And the article i linked to pretty much proves that some people are profiting from the free advertisement in fans vs. users.

Massive companies such as UMG / Warner Bros don't give 2 craps about their customers, they don't refer to their customers as "fans" but rather "users". This is why they produce so much crap, barely any effort has been put in by hollywood in the past few years for example.

The rule is, if it's trash, the person will not buy the product. If it's a masterpiece of art, people want to own a physical copy. No loss is made to the consumer or the company behind the product.

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