I've been thinking about endless and idiotic struggle of "copyright owners" against "unauthorized distribution and usage" for some time now.
When one group of people provides a platform of content sharing, another group has a content to share, yet another group wants to get that content, "copyright owners" fight against it. The tell us about profits they lose as their content gets distributed for free, but what happens is in fact free and very effective advertisement and evaluation of ... well, anything. People get to try something for free, use it and evaluate it. If they like it, there's a good possibility that they'd buy original product or improved version of a product. Though it only works if people find that the product you offer is WORTH what you charge for it.
It makes sense if you think about it: imagine you wonder whether to buy an album of a singer for 30$. Radio rotated one or two songs from it, therefore you heard about one sixth of tracks on the disk. "Copyright owners" want you to pay 30$ right now and... that's it. Pay and whether you like what you bought or not is not their concern.
The same goes for other copyrighted content. Let's take recent Bioware's release Dragon Age 2 as an example. All gaming magazines and sites praise DA2. Demo that Bioware released tells you next to nothing about the game. And so they want you to buy, buy, buy... But when you buy it, you find it not as great as reviews described. Players' ratings differ drastically from gaming magazines' and sites' ratings... If you had no chance to try out what you buy, it may end out in big fat disappointment.
What "copyright owners" want in this case is you buying a dark horse. Buy and then evaluate it. Don't look at what's inside the box, no way we're going to let you...
An article I found on BBC News site discusses the issue. Here's a quote:
"There's really no way I could stop someone from reading one of my books if they wanted to without paying for it. So I need to find creative solutions to that and those I think take several forms. One is competing with free by presenting a better offer."
The whole article can be found here (BBC News).
I have a youtube channel where I film something called 'LETS PLAYS' if you want the address let me know please, we're fighting this all the time. For obvious reasons. You're correct.
ReplyDeleteYes, give me an address so I'd have a look at it ^^
ReplyDeleteObvious reasons huh... I know many people who'd answer something like "if you were copyright owner, you'd do the same".
www.youtube.com/1985griever.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I do this, like most lets players, is for fun and to spread fun. That is all.
I have been making short playthrough videos and clips myself ^^ But since I have less time now, it's only screenshots mostly.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see them, I'm sure they're good
ReplyDeleteLol I assure you they're ordinary :) Well, some of my old vids can be found here: http://www.4shared.com/dir/ma3zLFF5/Videos.html
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