Quote:
Originally Posted by Snake Doctor
Here's where you're missing the boat buddy. Seriously.
They paysite as we have known it, is like the CD. It'll still be around for awhile but it's pretty much obsolete.
The music industry spent a fortune trying to protect the distribution of CDs and stop the proliferation of digital music. How much good did it do them?
How much more money do movie studios make today than they did 25 years ago because of the vcr and dvd player? They very things they tried to kill.
The people who aren't in business anymore are the people who owned crappy little movie theaters that only had one or two screens (not unlike most paysites today)
In today's environment some movie theaters thrive, but only the ones with over a dozen screens, who have stadium seating with ergonomic chairs and lots of other goodies.
You're pissed off about the current situation because of how you think it will affect you personally and your current business model specifically. It's got you so pissed off that you'll argue that 2+2 doesn't equal 4, if gideon says that it does.
In the example of movie theaters in the era of the VCR, if you see yourself only as a movie theater owner who is being victimized by "those people" then you're surely going to fail.
However, if you see yourself as an entrepreneur in the entertainment business, and try to find a way to profit from the new technology, you're much more likely to succeed.  |
There is a problem with that statement. Yes the industry fought the VCR and lost and eventually ended up making a lot more money because of it. The difference is that back then when a movie came out in theaters it was months (in some cases years ) before it then later came out on video. So if you wanted to see it right when it came out you had to go to the theater or you could wait for it to come out on video. When it did come out on video you could buy it (they were very expensive at first) or you could rent it. You could get another VCR and daisy chain them and make a copy of the movie for yourself. There are many people who did that. The difference is that to make that copy you had to buy a blank tape and buy a second VCR. There was some economic barrier to making that copy and even then you made just a couple of copies of that movie for yourself or maybe a friend or two. Making a copy was something that took a lot of time and effort.
Now with torrents and modern technology A movie comes out in the theater and the same day it is released you can download it on a torrent site. You can then seed it and share it with who knows how many other people. There is no extra cost, nobody spends a dime and one person can distribute 1000's of copies of that movie within a few hours. So the flaw in the argument is simply the change in technology. Back in the day getting a copy of a movie on VHS was not that easy and I still had to wait, now it is as simple as clicking your mouse a few times.
I won't argue that a person who knew what they were doing could use the modern system to make money. I am arguing that people who are currently running torrent sites to facilitate pirating should be taken to task. I am sick of the attitude that a lot of these people have that says, "we want it for free and if you aren't going to give it to use for free we will just keep taking it until you are forced to change and find a way to make some money giving it to us for free."
then again I am also of the opinion that torrent users are freeloaders and making money off of them will not be easy. they are part of the free entitlement generation and they are savvy enough to get what they want for free so I feel finding a way to make money off of them will not be as easy as some people may seem to think it will be.