The War Of The Cyber-Pirates Vs The Corporate Industries
Piracy is illegal. Just wanted to make that clear. You are part of the pirate problem if you are downloading or uploading music, movies, books, computer applications, and images that you did not pay for nor did not have permission from the owner to circulate.
Piracy is against all international copyright laws. If you "share" files [it's not really sharing, you are stealing] for which you did not pay for and did not have permission from the owner to obtain, you have broken international copyright laws and can be brought up on charges which could land you in jail and be forced to pay massive fines.
Is it fair to follow an unjust law? Is this law unjust? Who is being hurt anyway? How does this affect the artist? How does this affect you?
Let's look at the history of the corporate industry first, before we point fingers at the consumers.
Hollywood and the Music Industry... Rich and powerful corporations which make their money by promoting the movies, music and artists they sponsor have both had a history of not paying their talent in a fair manner. They have become big time billionaires by stiffing their artists or paying them a fraction of their worth because they could get away with it. There are many horror stories from both industries where artists were paid a nominal fee for their work and they were not entitled to royalties from their efforts. Basically, the artist or actor did their work and got paid while Hollywood and the Music Industry got paid over and over and over as the one time work has been sold and re-sold countless times. In other words, these corporations have profited multiple times on the physical work of the artists.
The Little Rascals are a classic example of how Hollywood has made their millions. Yes, they put up the investment in order to produce these films and they paid these child actors a lump sum to show up and make the movie. On the surface it looks pretty fair. What the child actors did not bargain for was the potential that all the work they did would keep on going. When they signed those contracts, it was only understood it was just to be shown in the movies for a limited period of time. Yes, they knew the corporation owned the right to the film, but they never envisioned the future of television and how the corporation that owned their work would profit for the next 60+ years. The corporation took advantage of the new technology in order to make more money. They never bargained or negotiated with these actors for the work they had done because they already had a signed contract. Neither party knew about the potential of the new technology and how one could profit from it. As it turned out, Hollywood made millions and the child actors were screwed because they were not in a position to profit from the technology that came into vogue after they did their work.
And of course, they have the right to do it. They have pockets of lawyers who tell their talent to sign contracts. If these artists and actors want to get anywhere in the field, they must play by the rules of the big boys. What other choices do the talent have? These big industries have muscled out most competition. It is next to impossible for "the little guy" to have their music or movies out in the public because the corporations have dominated and controlled the industries. It leaves them with an unfair field advantage. Their talent must concede to their rules and take only a fraction of their worth in order to make it in the business while the big corporation is making far more than the artist in the long run off of their work. Any "little guy" who wants to put out a movie or music does not stand much of a chance of making ANY money in the business because these corporate giants have squeezed out almost all competition.
And what of the music industry? They aren't any better in the game of exploiting their talent. The story of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers is a classic example of exploitation. The streets were filled with talented people who wanted a chance to make it in the music industry. The system was already set up that the average Joe could not just walk into a music station and request their song was played on the air. It simply did not work that way. Payola and corruption is what got a song played and the music industry were the ones that greased the palms to make sure they had no competition...an advantage which created the base of the billion dollar industry they have today.
Those talented kids just wanted to be recognized for what they could do. They were discovered and given gifts and money upfront to do what the industry wanted them to do. When they were no longer the hot item, the industry discarded them like trash and no longer owed them anything. However, they did have the rights to sell and re-sell the works of these young people for a long time to come and were not obliged to give the artists anything further.
The music and movie industry has a history which has cheated their own talent in order to make their billions. They took advantage of technology when it suited them. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Technology has made it so the average person has an advantage over the industry and they are crying foul. They are invoking their copyrights are being stolen and it hurts the artists and the industry in general.
I am not going to say anything against artists such as Metallica, Paul Simon, and others who do not wish for their work to be exploited by new technology. They did the work and should have the right to profit from what they have done. If the artists feel so strongly that Hollywood and the music industry have their best interests at heart [which I personally do not believe is the case, but as long as they believe it] then they should have the right to pursue legal recourse over those who steal their work. That being said, Hollywood and the music industry is now hiding behind the artists and actors as being the ones robbed which is why they must make a big stink about the piracy issue. These same people they would not have a problem exploiting themselves will not let "their bitches" be exploited by someone else because it cuts into the industry profit.
I will explain my coarse analogy. On the streets you have a pimp with a stable full of hookers. A "john" must approach the pimp in order to get service. The hooker does all the work and gets a small cut of the overall profit while the rest goes to the pimp who justifies his reasons for such a big cut from someone elses' work. Now if a "john" were to directly approach the hooker and set up a deal on the side, it cuts into the pimp's profits and the pimp gets angry and will do awful things to those who cut into their profits. The hooker could very well decide to go out on her own and solicit her own business where she has her clients who pay her 100% for the work she has done without the middleman, but the pimp has made it impossible for the hooker because the pimp has greased the palms of police officers in order to stay in business and to shoo away competition. The hooker cannot make it on her own and must only do business with the pimp. Any "john" who tries to steal away business without giving the pimp his profit will get a royal beating. -- This is the music and movie industry!
People complain that both Hollywood and the music industry has lately created nothing but lackluster entertainment. The Summer of 2005 proves my point with remakes of everything that has already been done "Bad News Bears" "The Honeymooners" "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to name a few. People are turning against the stuff played on radio stations that are pretty lame and searching for things from the past that had more soul to it. People are not going to movies as much because they do not want to see the current batch and opt for things they loved from the past.
If all things were fair, these people would only buy these classics from a retail store. Hollywood makes their money and the people who did the work would get a small portion for each one that sold. That is not happening as much as Hollywood and the music industry thinks it should. They are complaining that instead of people buying, they are sharing their files and will never go into the store and buy the real copy...They have a point, to a certain degree.
Face it, if you have just downloaded a copy of a movie or music file from the Internet for free, would you honestly buy it at full price? Unless you really loved the movie or song, chances are you will not pony up the money to get the real CD or DVD for the complete selection of the included books and extra bits you do not get with a download. Then again, some people do go out and buy it simply because they love it so much they want a REAL copy.
Back in the dinosaur days of the VCR and the cassette tape, the industries made the same complaint that this new technology would force them out of business. They feared people everywhere would make copies and never buy the real source and the industry would be destroyed. Yes, people did make copies and even shared them with friends. The music and movie industries did not make money from the copies, but they did not go out of business either.
The problem today, however, is worse. While people who stole copyrighted works in the past had a limited means of "sharing" files, today people can download and upload these things in a matter of a few minutes to a few hours. There are estimates that over 10 million people are sharing illegal files daily - a number too large to police. For every person downloading an illegal copy, these industries are not making money and estimate their losses in the hundreds of thousands per person.
That figure may be exaggerated. Look at it from a logical viewpoint. All of these people who are downloading files for free probably would never have bought the full copy in the first place. If copyright laws were fully enforced and made it impossible to do this act or at least extremely hard, the millions of people doing it now probably would only buy 10% of what they are stealing now. Yes, this represents a true loss to the industries because those who would buy are not buying. It also points out that most of what is being downloaded are things the consumer probably would not buy anyway. They download a lot out of curiosity and would never have considered spending money on something like that anyway.
I believe if the laws were strictly enforced, the industries would still be in a bad situation unless they come up with quality that people really want and are fair to the artists and allow healthy comptetion from the smaller industries trying to make it. There are no clean hands in this business on either end. While I feel sorry for the artists and actors being exploited at both ends, there is not much that can be done unless the big industries make amends first.
http://www.callendamornen.co.uk
Piracy is against all international copyright laws. If you "share" files [it's not really sharing, you are stealing] for which you did not pay for and did not have permission from the owner to obtain, you have broken international copyright laws and can be brought up on charges which could land you in jail and be forced to pay massive fines.
Is it fair to follow an unjust law? Is this law unjust? Who is being hurt anyway? How does this affect the artist? How does this affect you?
Let's look at the history of the corporate industry first, before we point fingers at the consumers.
Hollywood and the Music Industry... Rich and powerful corporations which make their money by promoting the movies, music and artists they sponsor have both had a history of not paying their talent in a fair manner. They have become big time billionaires by stiffing their artists or paying them a fraction of their worth because they could get away with it. There are many horror stories from both industries where artists were paid a nominal fee for their work and they were not entitled to royalties from their efforts. Basically, the artist or actor did their work and got paid while Hollywood and the Music Industry got paid over and over and over as the one time work has been sold and re-sold countless times. In other words, these corporations have profited multiple times on the physical work of the artists.
The Little Rascals are a classic example of how Hollywood has made their millions. Yes, they put up the investment in order to produce these films and they paid these child actors a lump sum to show up and make the movie. On the surface it looks pretty fair. What the child actors did not bargain for was the potential that all the work they did would keep on going. When they signed those contracts, it was only understood it was just to be shown in the movies for a limited period of time. Yes, they knew the corporation owned the right to the film, but they never envisioned the future of television and how the corporation that owned their work would profit for the next 60+ years. The corporation took advantage of the new technology in order to make more money. They never bargained or negotiated with these actors for the work they had done because they already had a signed contract. Neither party knew about the potential of the new technology and how one could profit from it. As it turned out, Hollywood made millions and the child actors were screwed because they were not in a position to profit from the technology that came into vogue after they did their work.
And of course, they have the right to do it. They have pockets of lawyers who tell their talent to sign contracts. If these artists and actors want to get anywhere in the field, they must play by the rules of the big boys. What other choices do the talent have? These big industries have muscled out most competition. It is next to impossible for "the little guy" to have their music or movies out in the public because the corporations have dominated and controlled the industries. It leaves them with an unfair field advantage. Their talent must concede to their rules and take only a fraction of their worth in order to make it in the business while the big corporation is making far more than the artist in the long run off of their work. Any "little guy" who wants to put out a movie or music does not stand much of a chance of making ANY money in the business because these corporate giants have squeezed out almost all competition.
And what of the music industry? They aren't any better in the game of exploiting their talent. The story of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers is a classic example of exploitation. The streets were filled with talented people who wanted a chance to make it in the music industry. The system was already set up that the average Joe could not just walk into a music station and request their song was played on the air. It simply did not work that way. Payola and corruption is what got a song played and the music industry were the ones that greased the palms to make sure they had no competition...an advantage which created the base of the billion dollar industry they have today.
Those talented kids just wanted to be recognized for what they could do. They were discovered and given gifts and money upfront to do what the industry wanted them to do. When they were no longer the hot item, the industry discarded them like trash and no longer owed them anything. However, they did have the rights to sell and re-sell the works of these young people for a long time to come and were not obliged to give the artists anything further.
The music and movie industry has a history which has cheated their own talent in order to make their billions. They took advantage of technology when it suited them. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Technology has made it so the average person has an advantage over the industry and they are crying foul. They are invoking their copyrights are being stolen and it hurts the artists and the industry in general.
I am not going to say anything against artists such as Metallica, Paul Simon, and others who do not wish for their work to be exploited by new technology. They did the work and should have the right to profit from what they have done. If the artists feel so strongly that Hollywood and the music industry have their best interests at heart [which I personally do not believe is the case, but as long as they believe it] then they should have the right to pursue legal recourse over those who steal their work. That being said, Hollywood and the music industry is now hiding behind the artists and actors as being the ones robbed which is why they must make a big stink about the piracy issue. These same people they would not have a problem exploiting themselves will not let "their bitches" be exploited by someone else because it cuts into the industry profit.
I will explain my coarse analogy. On the streets you have a pimp with a stable full of hookers. A "john" must approach the pimp in order to get service. The hooker does all the work and gets a small cut of the overall profit while the rest goes to the pimp who justifies his reasons for such a big cut from someone elses' work. Now if a "john" were to directly approach the hooker and set up a deal on the side, it cuts into the pimp's profits and the pimp gets angry and will do awful things to those who cut into their profits. The hooker could very well decide to go out on her own and solicit her own business where she has her clients who pay her 100% for the work she has done without the middleman, but the pimp has made it impossible for the hooker because the pimp has greased the palms of police officers in order to stay in business and to shoo away competition. The hooker cannot make it on her own and must only do business with the pimp. Any "john" who tries to steal away business without giving the pimp his profit will get a royal beating. -- This is the music and movie industry!
People complain that both Hollywood and the music industry has lately created nothing but lackluster entertainment. The Summer of 2005 proves my point with remakes of everything that has already been done "Bad News Bears" "The Honeymooners" "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to name a few. People are turning against the stuff played on radio stations that are pretty lame and searching for things from the past that had more soul to it. People are not going to movies as much because they do not want to see the current batch and opt for things they loved from the past.
If all things were fair, these people would only buy these classics from a retail store. Hollywood makes their money and the people who did the work would get a small portion for each one that sold. That is not happening as much as Hollywood and the music industry thinks it should. They are complaining that instead of people buying, they are sharing their files and will never go into the store and buy the real copy...They have a point, to a certain degree.
Face it, if you have just downloaded a copy of a movie or music file from the Internet for free, would you honestly buy it at full price? Unless you really loved the movie or song, chances are you will not pony up the money to get the real CD or DVD for the complete selection of the included books and extra bits you do not get with a download. Then again, some people do go out and buy it simply because they love it so much they want a REAL copy.
Back in the dinosaur days of the VCR and the cassette tape, the industries made the same complaint that this new technology would force them out of business. They feared people everywhere would make copies and never buy the real source and the industry would be destroyed. Yes, people did make copies and even shared them with friends. The music and movie industries did not make money from the copies, but they did not go out of business either.
The problem today, however, is worse. While people who stole copyrighted works in the past had a limited means of "sharing" files, today people can download and upload these things in a matter of a few minutes to a few hours. There are estimates that over 10 million people are sharing illegal files daily - a number too large to police. For every person downloading an illegal copy, these industries are not making money and estimate their losses in the hundreds of thousands per person.
That figure may be exaggerated. Look at it from a logical viewpoint. All of these people who are downloading files for free probably would never have bought the full copy in the first place. If copyright laws were fully enforced and made it impossible to do this act or at least extremely hard, the millions of people doing it now probably would only buy 10% of what they are stealing now. Yes, this represents a true loss to the industries because those who would buy are not buying. It also points out that most of what is being downloaded are things the consumer probably would not buy anyway. They download a lot out of curiosity and would never have considered spending money on something like that anyway.
I believe if the laws were strictly enforced, the industries would still be in a bad situation unless they come up with quality that people really want and are fair to the artists and allow healthy comptetion from the smaller industries trying to make it. There are no clean hands in this business on either end. While I feel sorry for the artists and actors being exploited at both ends, there is not much that can be done unless the big industries make amends first.
http://www.callendamornen.co.uk
posted by Callen Damornen at 4:18:00 pm
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