Discussions at work have really surprised me about one of the factors of our economy that is never really touched on, but is just as unsustainable as everything else that is going on. It’s everywhere really, and the people who are responsible will never ever admit their responsibility, and the media rarely touches it because no one wants to admit that the consumer themselves is to blame for some of what’s going on. It’s all a sick double standard, and I’m really getting tired of this concept of entitlement that so many people have.
I am, of course, discussing internet piracy. Yes yes, I know, that dirty horrible subject that is as hot a topic these days as abortion and religion. I find that internet piracy has its place, and I even say it’s perfectly fine in some situations. Frankly, as is often the case, the root of the problem and the inability to find any common ground is because you have one side screaming yes and the other screaming no, but it’s not quite as simple as that, as few things ever are.
So where do I stand in all of this? To me, piracy is a big problem, but not quite as simple as some people would like to make it out to be. It’s all situational really, and it can certainly be justified in some situations and not in others, at least in my opinion. That is the key factor here; this is my opinion, and I can understand that others will not agree with that, and that is their right. What I question is why don’t they agree with it? Is it simply because agreeing might mean that they wouldn’t be able to get whatever they want for free? Is the basis behind the opinions and beliefs truly people with a mind to do what is right, or just people driven by greed? Sadly, it really does seem like a lot of the stances people take are really just driven by their desire or need to get everything for nothing, and that’s unfortunate.
In this digital age we are all going to be at risk. Some of the greatest people out there are those who can create and express art, yet the untalented find more and more ways to make it impossible for anyone to sustain that way of life. In the end, we are basically shooting culture in the foot by kicking down those who promote and further our culture and our arts. Truth is, will it even end here? The internet makes it easier and easier to deny people the rights to their own hard work, and how much longer until this spills out to other professions?
Still, in my opinion the internet opens up a number of great possibilities, some of which still fall under the label of piracy unfortunately. Let’s take anime for instance. In Japan most of these shows can be seen on network or cable television, giving the viewers the chance to view it and even determine if it’s great enough to purchase. In general, there is no legal equivalent to that in the US. Here you get a trailer, and you’re then stuck shelling out the cash for a DVD for a show you may or may not like, based on 30 to 60 seconds of trailer footage. I don’t see a problem with downloading in this case, as it gives you the opportunity to view it before you’d buy it, just as they get in Japan. My only problem are with those who download and would never buy or support the industry; essentially the bottom feeders who take a good thing and twist it in to a chance to rob others of their right to earn from their trade. Some consumers are to blame here, and some companies are also to blame for not offering methods for people to view these shows without spending $20+ on them. The industry is wising up these days and offering streamed episodes for some shows, but really, this is something that should have been done years ago, it took a slumping economy and a dying industry to open their eyes.
Software is another gray area, and a lot of that also lies in the hands of the industry, but also in the hands of the bottom feeders. First off you get companies hoarding their rights to software that is long out of print and out of date, but they still latch on to their rights to the product even though they have all but washed their hands of it. Once a game or piece of software is no longer on the shelves and impossible to by, just give it up as abandonware and move on to your next product. I see no problem in just illegally downloading these old games and programs that aren’t even supported by their respective companies anymore.
The cost of some applications is also just ridiculous, because they know they have the market cornered. Ever priced any of Adobes software, or major CAD programs, or even just Microsoft Office? The prices they charge are just out of hand, particularly when you can’t tell me it took more research and development to make that software than some of the high end games out there these days that have production values that rival Hollywood films. Yet those games cost $50 or $60, certainly not over a grand like some of the above mentioned software charges for just a single license. They might argue that they charge so high because they don’t have as many buyers, but honestly, they might have more buyers if they didn’t ask such ridiculous prices. CAD is a bit more specialized, but Photoshop is something that could see as many buyers as most games if it was priced realistically.
Still, even when games drop to $20 or $30, you still get the bottom feeders who just think they’re far too special to pay people for their work, so they just download it instead. People get this sense of entitlement that essentially exists because it can be done, and done rather easily. It’s there, so why should they pay? It doesn’t matter that entire companies spend millions to make these games as great as they are and that peoples hard work and impressive skills resulting from years of education go in to it. As long as it requires a form of digital distribution their hard work is suddenly seen as an “unlimited resource”, which suddenly makes it well justifiable to simply take it and deny the company and the workers who made the game possible the right to earn from their skillset. It’s not a fault of theirs, but rather just the fault of greed and the flaw of the method of distribution their medium requires.
It’s the same with music really as it is with software. Production of most music takes a great deal of talent, time, and effort. People who think it’s really so easy have apparently never been in a position to know any better. The ease of stealing music, particularly because the files are so small compared to other mediums, makes it even worse for musicians. You get successful musicians that do great and end up rich, but the current market forces those trying to make it to either give up their talent for peanuts and live a life of poverty, or sign on with a heartless corporation that will control their music just so they can get some level of protection and marketing, and that’s if they’re “lucky” to get a contract to begin with. It’s sad when you think of how many great and talented people who’ve fallen in to obscurity simply because the climate we have created for them makes success less and less about talent. Yeah, we love to blame the industry, and we are right to do so in some respects, but consumers aren’t always innocents in this either. A lot of what the industry is ends up directly resulting from the actions of the consumers unfortunately.
It really goes on and on to other mediums as well, from literature to photography and art. As long as replication is easy it is justified that the art and talent is an “unlimited” resource since the cost of replication is really quite small. Unfortunately the cost of the product that is replicated is not cheap, and it doesn’t matter how cheap it is to replicate something if the company and/or artists are denied the right to earn for their work, a right that we all take advantage of and don’t even think about on a daily basis. The products are not an unlimited resource because it takes a lot to create the initial product, only the distribution medium is an unlimited resource. That resource is completely useless without the created product to place on it; so in the end, the resource is not unlimited at all. It takes manpower and skills and talent, just like any job the rest of us work.
The film industry is no longer as immune to piracy as it used to be either. There was a time when films were just too big to download, so it simply wasn’t practical. Compression is getting better, and your average users download speeds are getting faster now, so that immunity is quickly deteriorating. This is particularly unfortunate because movies aren’t cheap to make, and when a movie is made cheap, people are quick to point out the poor effects and poor casting and poor sets and trash the films reputation. People are expecting more and more from films, but willing to pay less and less. Like a lot of the current market, it just isn’t sustainable, like so many other markets that we’ve seen collapse in the past year. Frankly, just like shoveling money out to China for our products has killed our auto and manufacturing industries, the unwillingness to let companies have any earning potential will only ensure that yet another industry will someday collapse.
Of course, the industry has to take their fair share of the blame as well. The bottom feeding consumers are a huge problem, yes, but the industries reactions aren’t always the greatest and just make the bottom feeders out to be the victims instead of them. Their pricing is also often out of control, particularly in the software industry where control of a market gives them so much free reign they can ask whatever ridiculous price they want and companies will have to pay it. This just pushes people to pirate their software because they could never possibly afford to get it legitimately, and frankly, in that instance I can’ say I blame those who are pirating the software. The company still has the right to earn since the production of the software takes skill and manpower, but when they’re obviously screwing people to ridiculous degrees, it becomes a case of them exploiting their position.
So what is the solution? If I knew, or anyone knew, we wouldn’t be in this boat. The facts are simply that these industries are not sustainable as they are. Advertisers aren’t going to pay for your shows if you can just DVR past their ads. Movies aren’t going to provide you the effects you demand when piracy reaches a point they can no longer afford it. Musicians have no choice but to sell out to big heartless record companies when the consumers make it impossible for them to make a living any other way. Gamers demand more and more from their games; better graphics and longer storylines and better gameplay, but are apparently unwilling to pay a one-time fee to support the games that they enjoy. At this point the industries are depending on the honorable consumers that are willing to honor the right of the company and their workers to earn from their product, but how long will that last?
The first step that needs to be taken is for people to maintain a legitimate and meaningful dialog. This means the concept of open-mindedness and objectivity on the part of the consumers, and a less vengeful and aggressive stance from the companies that only fuels the fires. Until that first step is taken, this will likely never end unless some change is made that will actually allow piracy laws to be enforceable. Right now the laws have no teeth, and people know it, so this just ends up driving that sense of entitlement that is further fueled by the actions of the companies in response to it. Of course, the laws are also incredibly out of date, and provide the companies with far too much protection and the consumers with nearly none, which also just fuels peoples stance that they should be ignored altogether.
So inflexibility becomes a huge problem. The companies aren’t willing to recognize there’s a middle ground and all but demand the laws protect them and them alone. The bottom feeders will just sit there and justify their actions with half-truth and selective information and are completely unwilling to respect anyone elses right to earn from their work simply because the medium itself can be replicated, ignoring the people and work and money behind it. My co-workers are a great example of this when I tried to discuss the manner with them and their response was simply “you don’t know how I think, you need to prove it”. It doesn’t matter that they’ve said it before and the observations are obvious, their defensive barrier immediately demands I essentially record everything they say and take a mental note of all discussions just to have a valid stance in their eyes. Unfortunately I know all to well that even if I did manage to obtain such “proof” from an e-mail or recording, they’d just invent some other justification and throw up another wall. In the end it’s a pointless and useless endeavour because they just want to play games of justification, twisting words, and half truths and have no desire to actually discuss anything in a practical, open-minded fashion.
As long as the companies and the bottom feeders maintain their incredibly stubborness, it’s quite clear that this can only end in the worst way possible. Either the companies collapse or lay off loads of workers because apparently we’re happy to complain about jobs to wall street and our officials, but are unwilling to put our money where our mouth is once it’s our turn. Or the other option would be for changes in cyber enforcement or prosecution that would give teeth to the laws that people so easily skirt around currently, which would only give the industries complete control and protection and us very little. Unfortunately our society has demonstrated time and time again that we can’t get over our stubborness and obsession with our greed and what’s best for the individual only to come to a proper conclusion. It’s sad really, but maybe this will finally be the instance where things end up right. One can hope right?
© 2009, Keonyn. All rights reserved.
[...] Original post: The Right to Earn [...]