Here’s how we got here: Panasonic got in bed with Avatar early on, promoting the film with 103 trucks with giant 3D TVs on them. That was kind of cool, actually. But then, it turned out you could only buy the 3D Blu-ray with a Panasonic 3D TV. Which turned out to cost, all things considered, about 300 damn dollars for a $30 Blu-ray, no matter how you spun it. Totally dumb, totally anti-consumer.
So what did we do? What were we basically invited to do? We pirated.
via This Is Why People Pirate.
From Kyle Wagner on Gizmodo.
What do I have to add? Not much. For the most part, I think he’s right. The studios, the RIAA, the old media stalwarts, they are simply not fast enough, not nimble enough and not willing enough to change. There’s plenty to say for copyright — and I say this as both a copyright holder in my own right and a licensor of performance rights — but there’s also plenty about copyright law that is wrong and wrongheaded.
Remember, the vast majority of copyright holders are now corporations and they have successfully written enormous protections for themselves into law simply because they want more money. For a long time. At the expense, often, of the actual author.
It’s why I don’t feel bad at all about viewing a studio film bootleg but will go out of my way to make sure I can pay an independent artist for his or her song/web series/movie/book, etc.