RIAA's statement on the closing of Megaupload...

[kungfuwaynewho]

...just demonstrates how stupid and out of touch these people are.  From this article, some idiot who doesn't understand how causation actually works says that "digital music sales rose after file sharing service Limewire's shutdown in 2010."  First of all, who the hell was still using Limewire in 2010?  But second of all, how on earth could you say that one led to the other?  This is like that whole sea piracy/global warming thing.  "Collectively, this evidence strongly suggests that the shutdown of illegal sites helps create a thriving and diverse digital marketplace."

No.  What it does is force new alternatives.  Napster gives way to Kazaa that gives way to Limewire that gives way to torrents and from there to Megaupload and its ilk, and now that the direct download sites are under attack, something new will pop up.  Why?

BECAUSE I DO NOT BUY SHIT IF I DON'T KNOW IF I LIKE IT OR NOT.  I don't know why this is so hard for these people to understand.  I am not just going to buy a DVD or a CD without having seen or heard it first.  I don't have the money to throw around on a whim, and most other people don't, either.  I've purchased things I never would have without downloading them first, because I never would have known those things existed.  When was the last time you heard Gogol Bordello on the radio?  Exactly.  But I have four of their CDs and have gone to two concerts, and I guarantee you I never would have even known about them at all if I hadn't been exposed to their music online.

Also, I rarely buy books.  I read them for free from the library.  How come no one's shutting down the libraries?  What's the difference, really? 

If I had to actually purchase all the media I consume then I simply wouldn't consume much at all.  That's what these imbeciles don't get.  I have a finite amount of money.  I'm not just going to magically have more because you shut off my access to popular culture.  If the only way I can listen to that song that I'm so-so on is to buy it then I just won't buy it.  I don't download movies, so if something comes out and it doesn't excite me enough to go out to the theaters, then I just fucking wait till I can watch it for free when the library buys the DVD.  The end.  I don't even Redbox that shit.  BECAUSE I CANNOT AFFORD TO BUY ALL MY ENTERTAINMENT.  Sorry, media.  Sorry, studio execs and producers and everyone else.  That's just the way it is.

They act like it's a zero-sum game and it's not.  If I download an episode of American Horror Story because I missed it and I'm so far behind the episodes aren't up on Hulu anymore, I haven't stolen anything.  Nothing is missing.  I already missed the live airing so I'm not counting in the ratings anyway and whether I watch it six weeks later will have no impact on their ad sales.  But if I have the chance to go ahead and watch it by downloading it?  I might end up buying it when it comes out on DVD.  I certainly won't buy it sight unseen, that's for damn sure.  I don't know why they can't see this fact.  It's not that hard to figure out.

(I have been thinking countless iterations of this rant since last week.  Reading that article finally put me over the edge.)

Comments

[naushika.livejournal.com]

EVERYTHING YOU SAY IS ACCURATE AND I AGREE WHOLEHEARTEDLY.

This statement from Neil Gaiman has been making the rounds lately. I wish more people got it like him!

"When the web started, I used to get really grumpy with people because they put my poems up. They put my stories up. They put my stuff up on the web. I had this belief, which was completely erroneous, that if people put your stuff up on the web and you didn’t tell them to take it down, you would lose your copyright, which actually, is simply not true.

And I also got very grumpy because I felt like they were pirating my stuff, that it was bad. And then I started to notice that two things seemed much more significant. One of which was… places where I was being pirated, particularly Russia where people were translating my stuff into Russian and spreading around into the world, I was selling more and more books. People were discovering me through being pirated. Then they were going out and buying the real books, and when a new book would come out in Russia, it would sell more and more copies. I thought this was fascinating, and I tried a few experiments. Some of them are quite hard, you know, persuading my publisher for example to take one of my books and put it out for free. We took “American Gods,” a book that was still selling and selling very well, and for a month they put it up completely free on their website. You could read it and you could download it. What happened was sales of my books, through independent bookstores, because that’s all we were measuring it through, went up the following month three hundred percent

I started to realize that actually, you’re not losing books. You’re not losing sales by having stuff out there. When I give a big talk now on these kinds of subjects and people say, “Well, what about the sales that I’m losing through having stuff copied, through having stuff floating out there?” I started asking audiences to just raise their hands for one question. Which is, I’d say, “Okay, do you have a favorite author?” They’d say, “Yes.” and I’d say, “Good. What I want is for everybody who discovered their favorite author by being lent a book, put up your hands.” And then, “Anybody who discovered your favorite author by walking into a bookstore and buying a book raise your hands.” And it’s probably about five, ten percent of the people who actually discovered an author who’s their favorite author, who is the person who they buy everything of. They buy the hardbacks and they treasure the fact that they got this author. Very few of them bought the book. They were lent it. They were given it. They did not pay for it, and that’s how they found their favorite author. And I thought, “You know, that’s really all this is. It’s people lending books. And you can’t look on that as a loss of sale. It’s not a lost sale, nobody who would have bought your book is not buying it because they can find it for free.”

What you’re actually doing is advertising. You’re reaching more people, you’re raising awareness. Understanding that gave me a whole new idea of the shape of copyright and of what the web was doing. Because the biggest thing the web is doing is allowing people to hear things. Allowing people to read things. Allowing people to see things that they would never have otherwise seen. And I think, basically, that’s an incredibly good thing."

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

There's someone who gets it. Bless. Honestly, though, I think a lot of artists and the actual creators of the content do get this, some more than others. It's the people who are profiting off of them - the publishers, the producers, the execs - who are the ones scared of all this, because they just don't understand it at all.

There's been a huge paradigm shift in the way people access entertainment, and the expectations they have. The old guard just hasn't caught on. I used to be hopeful that they would some day - with stuff like Hulu, it seemed they were - but with all that's happened recently, it seems we're heading sharply and quickly in the other direction.

[naushika.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's exactly it. More and more artists are realizing it, but it's the producing companies and overseers like MPAA/RIAA are the ones shitting their pants. Radiohead dumped their label a few years ago, and now sell all their records on their own, through their website and an affiliated online store. Their first self-sold album, they let people pay whatever they wanted. Radiohead said they made more money on those album sales than any previous ones done through the label, since artists get like 5% of sales when associated with a label.

I think the problem they realized with Hulu is they just don't make *as much* money with that model as the old standard. So they decided Hulu isn't worth it. And then they all started doing the mindblowingly stupid thing where they wait 8 days to put a new episode of something onto Hulu. I mean what the fucking use is that? You will be eternally behind. Is it some sort of punishment? In the end, it just *guarantees* people will download instead, so they can be caught up in time.

The outdated ways of thinking and complete inability to try and adapt just blow my mind. Every other industry on the planet understands change is inevitable. I personally don't get why the industry isn't teaming up with Netflix. Despite people's complaining about price changes, I would honestly pay upwards of $30/month for Netflix if it included new episodes of airing shows, and I bet I wouldn't be the only one. And that is just one of many, many ideas for how to integrate technology and tv.

JUST, ARGH. Lol. It's so frustrating.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Their first self-sold album, they let people pay whatever they wanted.

I remember that! I paid $5. XD I think that's such a great way to do it, too, especially when no one's buying a physical product, just the files themselves.

And then they all started doing the mindblowingly stupid thing where they wait 8 days to put a new episode of something onto Hulu.

God, I know. I KNOW. When I first discovered this I cursed my monitor out, like it was its fault. Like, unless you're watching something that can be watched out of order, you're now completely stuck. And since I'm now four episodes behind on Fringe, I'm feeling that. I haven't even tried downloading last week's episode yet. Sigh.

I would honestly pay upwards of $30/month for Netflix if it included new episodes of airing shows, and I bet I wouldn't be the only one.

Me too. Hell, I'd pay $50 a month if I could just watch everything through that. It would be so much easier.

[naushika.livejournal.com]

especially when no one's buying a physical product, just the files themselves.

Yes, exactly! I really side-eye the industry when a digital cd costs $20. Bitch, don't even act like a *fraction* of the costs associated with a real cd are involved with a digital one! lol

Aw man, 4 episodes behind on Fringe! D: Catch uuuuup! XD But yeah, it's awful. I actually stopped using Hulu entirely once they did that. I didn't purposely go "fuck those guys" but I just have no use for them anymore. *facepalm*

It would be so much easier.

Yesssss, which reminds me of another point: consumers want things easy, not necessarily cheap (or free). Most people don't download because they enjoy getting something for nothing, or don't think it's worth paying money for. They do it because it's way damn easier than waiting forever for Hulu to have it, or to buy it on DVD, or whatever. For me, I've become addicted to Netflix instant watch, and pretty much all my tv is watched through that now. A service *I pay for!* Because it's so much easier to just pick up the remote and click to play something than going through the trouble of downloading, hooking my computer up to my tv, blah blah.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! I really side-eye the industry when a digital cd costs $20. Bitch, don't even act like a *fraction* of the costs associated with a real cd are involved with a digital one! lol

When the Writer's Strike was on, I read a great article breaking down just how much it cost to make a DVD, how much a consumer was charged for it, and how much of that money made it back to the writer. The upmark or whatever in cost was in the thousands and thousands of percents, it was ridiculous, and the writers were making 1/5 of a penny on each sale. They wanted 2/5. AND WERE DENIED. That's how much these people are douchebags, and that's why I'm not going to cry in my coffee over anyone illegally downloading their shit.

Yesssss, which reminds me of another point: consumers want things easy, not necessarily cheap (or free). Most people don't download because they enjoy getting something for nothing, or don't think it's worth paying money for.

Yes! (The level of absolute agreement in all these comments is killing me.) I download because if I'm behind on a show, it's generally the easiest way to catch up. I'll absolutely just watch it on Hulu if it's available there, like I do with Modern Family, since I work Wednesday nights. It's up the next morning and I watch it while I eat breakfast. It's perfect.

[naushika.livejournal.com]

Ugh, so awful. Lmao @ crying in your coffee. Totally agree. I feel like in some ways they're getting their lumps.

The level of absolute agreement in all these comments is killing me.

I FEEL LIKE IF WE COULD JUST GET AN INDUSTRY EXECUTIVE TO READ ALL THE COMMENTS ON THIS PAGE THEN WE COULD CONVINCE THEM. OR SOMETHING!