I hate how the movie and music industry handles piracy. Instead of looking into the problems (“Why aren’t people buying our movies and music?”) they brutally attack any illegal distribution of their materials.
Whenever I want to watch a movie, listen to music or buy a game, I consider the following two elements:
1. Is the price reasonable given the expected content value?
2. How painful will the process be?
I buy a lot of video games on Steam. The prices are most of the time very reasonable, especially during sales. Not to mention the Humble Bundles which allows me to adjust the price according to my own expectations towards the content value. That’s great. The process is also entirely painless. I buy a game and BAM, I’m now playing it. No tedious serial codes, no DRM, nothing.
I never buy music. Distribution platforms like iTunes are a mess. Not only does it clog my computer with a thousand applications just so that I can listen to music, everything is also incredibly overpriced. I’ve found Spotify to be the best candidate as a music distribution platform, but unfortunately it’s also very overpriced (I do consider $20 a month too much for music. Tweak it to $5 and I’m sold).
I never buy movies either. Going to the cinema or buying a DVD is inconvenient when I just want to partly watch a TV series or a bland movie while I’m programming. Services like Netflix are not available where I live.
NetFlix is not available in most of Europe
Dear music and movie industry. Please make a simple distribution platform that doesn’t infect my PC with bloated software. Make the prices reasonable. Maybe then I’ll start buying your music and movies.
(Editor’s note: This post does not endorse piracy but simply points out an issue)
I’m glad to find someone who thinks on the same lines as me. Also, isn’t Spotify $10 for Unlimited Music streaming and then $20 for premium?
I definitely agree that it’s a problem, but keep in mind that people aren’t entitled to the product. Just because it’s not convenient or way overpriced doesn’t mean you can get it for free. Vote with your wallets guys. I don’t buy music or movies, but I don’t pirate them either.
I like your thinking, but what I’m surprised about is that all the music and movie companies aren’t stopping youtube, because you can easily watch any TV series or movie at a reasonable quality on youtube.