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Putting Canadian Piracy in Perspective
An anonymous reader writes "Over the past year Slashdot has pointed to many industry claims and governmental pressure over Canada piracy issues. Canadian law prof Michael Geist has produced Putting Canadian 'Piracy' in Perspective, a video that demonstrates how the claims are hugely exaggerated. For example, it shows how despite the MPAA's claim of movie piracy, Canada was the industry's fastest growing market last year. Similarly, while the recording industry says Canada is the world's top P2P country, the data shows that the Canadian music industry is experiencing record gains and that most of the decline from the major labels is due to retail pricing pressures."
the media companies are lying to us.
That's a huge surprise.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
. . . Living the American dream.
If a million people jumped off a cliff, it'd only be a short time until I landed in a nice soft mountain of bodies.
Years ago, I found my sister buying Audio CD-Rs. I asked her why she bought those to burn her music, after all a normal CD wouldn't make a difference and the Audio CD-Rs were more expensive due to the levy of the music industry. Turned out she didn't know that data CDs could be used to copy music. I explained her that the only reason Audio CD-Rs exist is for non-computer burners and that she pays a "tax" by buying those.
The reaction was: Hey, that's cool... because of this tax my pirating is legal
Now aside form how true that statement is, my sister is an actual music lover and now that she is employed, she is in the process of buying every single CD she copied (and liked, of course) in her student years. Did I mention that she's an audio engineer now?
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Sorry if they have an outdated business model, but that doesn't mean people aren't buying the music and movies. Most people I know get their music from either iTunes or from Amazon or other online stores. It's much easier and often cheaper to get the stuff online. STRM closed because they have no more image with the young people of today. Their stores are few and far between, and they don't advertise to the people or even attempt to have their name known. HMV on the other hand has stores on every street corner, and has partnered with Amazon to give themselves a name in the online business. STRM failed to adapt and that is why they are closed, not because people aren't buying music.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Sam the Record Man was bought out years ago before this downloading hysteria. If I remember correctly, it almost went out of business then, but changed hands instead. The form it existed in for the past several years was a watered down version with much less selection. The initial downfall was not because of downloading, legal or otherwise.
Free the Quark 3 from asymptotic confinement! Bring your charm! Don't get down! All colours and flavours welcome!
Selling media content on little plastic discs is obsolete and as such is a shrinking industry. When the pond gets smaller the fish must ether get smaller or some fish must die. That is just life.
Look what happened when computers with word processing software made typewriters obsolete. Should we have had our governments spend millions to prop up the Smith Coronas and Olivettis and Underwoods and enact legislation to restrict the use and functionality of word processing software, or put a tax on computer software to fund concessions for ailing typewriter companies? Of course not, that's a stupid idea and very backward thinking.
That is why Sam died--the "selling plastic discs with music on them" pond is slowly shrinking and Sam was a big old fish set in his ways. Other fish in the pond like HMV ate too much of Sam's food and Sam starved to death. That's just life. Some of those little fish will live on, eking out a modest existence in a little puddle and other fish will evolve into amphibians and hop into another bigger pond with fresher water.
The thing is, things in Canada ARE very rosy indeed relative to our southern neighbours. Our economy is more robust at the moment and demand for media content is obviously strong enough to support some kind of healthy music industry--it's just going to look different. Yes, Sam was an icon of sorts and it's never nice to see an old friend die...but it happened to other old names like Eaton's and the sky didn't fall.