What this means for those of us that are working hard to break into the industry is that ISP companies are starting to have our backs when it comes to piracy. They have access to information that could lead to significant piracy rings and they are going to use it. For now it is just an email scare tactic but volunteering the information is just one step closer to stronger enforcement.
There is no doubt in my mind that piracy affects big labels and big picture companies, but I have been of the belief that there are stronger side effects to piracy than a cut in profits. For independent artists, piracy means that your music is being spread almost virally to people who may have never heard your music before.
Even if it's free illegally, these pirates may become fans that purchase merchandise at shows. For a larger artist, merchandise is treated almost as important as the disk sale. An independent artist might find that the most important thing to their survival and profits is merchandise.
The LA Times has reported a large amount of negative feedback from readers on Friday, after the news had broke out.
What the ISP and entertainment community should focus on is why people pirate in the first place and recognize that pirates will find new ways to obtain illegal materials. Is it possible for the industry to lead into a market with free material? Is it worth the advertisements and endorsements in movies and music to allow pirating to affect the profits of the industry? I think that for our industry, it is too subjective to predict the future but something must be done to continue to produce higher quality material.
No comments:
Post a Comment