BT Ordered to Block Pirate Sites

[Mitching]

I think it's a good thing.

why?

Because it's piracy  
I don't like how people just expect entertainment media for free.
Personally, I'm speaking from a musical perspective, but downloading music and films are just as bad - because it's readily available people expect everything for free now.
Again with music, people say things like "the bands and record labels already have enough money, why should I give them more?".
But because of that, people think they can get everything for free, which is seriously limiting the new artists breaking through to even a bit of success.
And people just don't understand the amount of hard work and money that goes into producing music.
My boss asked me the other day: "how do you make a million pounds in the music industry? Start with 2 million!"

[Ridg]

why?

Because lots of people aren't paying to watch/listen to lots of content for which they would previously have had to pay.

Although this is a good thing if you don't like paying for things, it is a bad thing if you make music or films... or if you want people to continue to keep making music and films.

 

It's not that difficult to figure out, is it?

the alternative being they continue to churn out sh!te that isn't worth paying for and we're forced to buy it becasue we can't test / try / listen / play etc first.

The main example of this is computer games, buy a game on the PC from gamestation / game etc install it find out it's rubbish, you're stuck as they wont buy it back pre-owned, download a "demo" like it buy it.

Not everyone that downloads stuff from the internet does it with the intention of stealing it, no different that taking a car for a test drive 

Maybe if they made stuff worth buying then there wouldn't be so much piracy 

[Mitching]

the alternative being they continue to churn out sh!te that isn't worth paying for and we're forced to buy it becasue we can't test / try / listen / play etc first.

The main example of this is computer games, buy a game on the PC from gamestation / game etc install it find out it's rubbish, you're stuck as they wont buy it back pre-owned, download a "demo" like it buy it.

Not everyone that downloads stuff from the internet does it with the intention of stealing it, no different that taking a car for a test drive 

Maybe if they made stuff worth buying then there wouldn't be so much piracy 

That's why demos/previews are useful.
And most of the people that produce these products will release their own official demo/preview/trailer, why illegally download the whole thing to 'preview' it, then buy it if you like it?

I get what you're saying about not everyone being out there to steal sh!t, but the sad truth that the vast majority actually are.

[Dan n Nic]

Plus the fact that most of the sh1te that they produce is grossly overpriced!!! You can see this by the way that when it eventually does get discounted they still make a big profit.

[Ridg]

the alternative being they continue to churn out sh!te that isn't worth paying for and we're forced to buy it becasue we can't test / try / listen / play etc first.

The main example of this is computer games, buy a game on the PC from gamestation / game etc install it find out it's rubbish, you're stuck as they wont buy it back pre-owned, download a "demo" like it buy it.

Not everyone that downloads stuff from the internet does it with the intention of stealing it, no different that taking a car for a test drive 

Maybe if they made stuff worth buying then there wouldn't be so much piracy 

That's why demos/previews are useful.
And most of the people that produce these products will release their own official demo/preview/trailer, why illegally download the whole thing to 'preview' it, then buy it if you like it?

I get what you're saying about not everyone being out there to steal sh!t, but the sad truth that the vast majority actually are.

because they don't anymore, a 30 second track preview of a song doesn't give you enough to decide if you want to buy it, a trailer for a movie doesn't necessarily reflect the actual film, computer game demos aren't as frequent as they used to be and don't always reflect the full version, lots of people I know will download the full version purely as a test to see if it actual run or not.

I get what you're saying about not everyone being out there to steal sh!t, but the sad truth that the vast majority actually are.

this is true and arbitrarily blocking websites, isn't necessarily the best way to stop the pirates

[Jimp]

The most annoying thing about buying movies and tv shows on dvd is the friggin piracy warnings at the start and the adverts () on some dvds. I still buy shows and movies I really like on DVD for the extras and stuff, but availability is also an issue. Find me an EU copy of both seasons of The Critic on DVD and I will give you a hug 
On the topic of music sales, unless you're a chart topper there's not much money in CD sales. The bulk of a musician's income is from gigs. For many the CD sales will cover recording costs and anything ater that is a nice bonus. In my experiences at least, people listening to the music and going to gigs is more important than actual CD sales. Plus let's not forget the merch 

[Jack3559]

The most annoying thing about buying movies and tv shows on dvd is the friggin piracy warnings at the start and the adverts () on some dvds. I still buy shows and movies I really like on DVD for the extras and stuff, but availability is also an issue. Find me an EU copy of both seasons of The Critic on DVD and I will give you a hug 
On the topic of music sales, unless you're a chart topper there's not much money in CD sales. The bulk of a musician's income is from gigs. For many the CD sales will cover recording costs and anything ater that is a nice bonus. In my experiences at least, people listening to the music and going to gigs is more important than actual CD sales. Plus let's not forget the merch 

In my previous band, the record label gave us two options as to the way we wanted our stuff released, they said we could have a larger advance and then give 50% of everything, including merch and stuff sold at shows and have everything produced for us (tee shirts made, CDs burnt and packaged... vinyls pressed...) or we could have a small advance and get to keep all of the profit from gigs, merch and sales of music at shows but surrender 50% of record sales.

We took the larger advance and the opportunity to have stuff made for us because we were poor... and it was a very bad move. Because all of the money was in the merch; we barely made a profit, in fact we could only just afford food when we were on tour.

Our second release we chose the second option and the difference it made was staggering.

Moral of that story, is that you can't pirate merch. Or something... Or money is in live music and self promotion!

[Steve_PD]

newzbin's working fine for me

[Mitching]

The most annoying thing about buying movies and tv shows on dvd is the friggin piracy warnings at the start and the adverts () on some dvds. I still buy shows and movies I really like on DVD for the extras and stuff, but availability is also an issue. Find me an EU copy of both seasons of The Critic on DVD and I will give you a hug 
On the topic of music sales, unless you're a chart topper there's not much money in CD sales. The bulk of a musician's income is from gigs. For many the CD sales will cover recording costs and anything ater that is a nice bonus. In my experiences at least, people listening to the music and going to gigs is more important than actual CD sales. Plus let's not forget the merch 

That's rarely even the case.
Many bands go un recouped from sales, and when it comes to a follow up album, they're stuck with the debt of the 1st album too.
If there's not much money coming in from sales the band will be more than likely dropped.
If there's no money coming in, labels will be more apprehensive about feeding money in in order to market etc.

That's why bands have to make money, as mentioned elsewhere, by live shows, merch and one of the most important income streams from bands is through sync fees (getting music in games and films, usually through publishers).

It's all a vicious circle.
But if people resort to piracy and get films and games illegally, budgets will get smaller and smaller, cutting off a huge income stream for artists.

[jamie_pyrite]

newzbin's working fine for me

Yeah, I don't think they'd be quite that quick at implementing it!


I don't know if the article linked is on the one I read, but it mentioned research that shows users of Limewire were also iTunes' biggest customers.

I download movies and TV shows, but I do go to the cinema a lot and pay an insane amount (nearly £10!!) each time. TV Shows I don't see a problem with.. I'm not going to buy DVD box sets, because it's in an inconvenient format.

Games are something I've always bought as it's an industry I like to support. The same with music - I don't bother buying music from artists I know are stinking rich though. They can live without my money. If music was all a lot cheaper, like say £1 an album and £2 a film, I would buy almost everything.. but it's not.