the good, the bad and the ugly …..

PIRACY

2014 - the notorious lists

most downloaded music

taylor swift - 20 million downloads

most downloaded movie

captain america - 85 million downloads

most downloaded game

minecraft - 106 million downloads

most downloaded software

windows 8 - 119 million downloads

and the most downloaded media from 2014 …..

most downloaded tv show

game of thrones - 204 million downloads

seriously

GoT was downloaded

204 MILLIONtimes

so WHY do

people

hit that

naughty

little

download button?

it’s free

it’s extensive

it’s readily available in one place

it’s quick and easy to use

and with no consequences

for now …..

so WHY is

piracy

such a problem?

lawrence lessig

think aboutthat

that

is

unique

1 …..

2 …..

paying

lotsa

doesn’tfit

newbusinessmodel

“some people say …..”

and

there

r

alternatives …..

exclusivity …..1 : the quality or state of being exclusive. 2 : exclusive rights or services.

lotsa

exclusivity …..1 : the quality or state of being exclusive. 2 : exclusive rights or services.

low price

rate of piracy

spotify - $12+ netflix - $9.99_______________

roughly $20 - $25

the

industry

is making

a

msitake

<they should but they won’t>

newbusinessmodel

9

new

programs

and that is

why

piracy

is such a problem …..

Thanks for staying awake

References

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I wanted to start by showing a few statistics about piracy. I want to start with the notorious list of the most downloaded media in each of the different genres.

I would like to start if i may, by showing a few statistics from the last year of the most downloaded media from a few different genres. Everybody is aware of piracy, but the extent of it is breathtaking.

I will be primarily be talking about pirating of tv shows and movies, how it affects the industry and why the industry is making a mistake in regards to exclusivity with streaming services.

But why do people hit that little download button?

Simply because it is free, and everything you could possibly want to consume is in one easy to use website. And at the moment it is pretty much risk free. For now .....

But why is piracy such a problem .....

So now we start to get the crux of the problem and to answer this, I would like to start by badly paraphrasing Lawrence Lessig from one his talks he did on TED. He was talking about american tv, but it is just as applicable to australian tv.

‘in the 20th century, being a tv studio was great. when you create a new tv show, it didn't have to be the greatest tv show in the world, better than every other show before it, it only had to compete with 4 other networks, so it only had to be best out of the 4 shows on tv at any time.’

20 years ago in the 90’s, the idea of having every tv show available to download to the consumer, whenever the consumer wanted it and at a low price of $10/mth would give each and every tv executive heart palpitations and maybe full cardiac arrest.

Think about that, in the 90’s you had to best 3 other networks. nowadays, the tv show you are creating is competing with every other tv show ever made and is being made to this day all available to the the consumer at any time.

all of a sudden, every tv show that is made has to be the highest quality or it wont be watched. That doesn't mean it has to have the best production values, as something as simple as ‘the mighty boosh’, the office, scrubs, the slap or the ‘IT crowd’ are great but simple shows but made on a shoestring budget. It does though have to be original, thought provoking, written well, directed and produced well, but most importantly, it must connect with the consumer.

Some of the bigger shows of recent memory have been about a serial murderer which somehow makes the audience sympathise with his ‘homicidal disease’ and the other is about a high school chemistry who finds out he has cancer, and with his family in mind, he goes on to make a pure form of crystal meth and set his family up for when he dies. Both Dexter and Breaking Bad have been phenomenal success but have done it with an original and at times thought provoking story lines.

At the same time, there has also been a renaissance in big budget extravagant tv shows with massive production values and at great great cost. Game of thrones budget per episode of 6 million dollars with the first season budget total of $60 million dollars.

The show Rome cost a staggering $9 million per episode and is the most expensive show ever made. Unfortunately it wasn't as popular as hoped and was canned after 2 seasons.

other shows like vikings, the flash, empire, gotham, mad men, the originals, homeland and penny dreadful show that fantastic programming is being made that is unique in some ways.

Dialogue

There are two points i would like to make in regards to this. 1 being that tv and movie distribution channels are changing. Ever so slowly, but they are changing. It would have been unthinkable 20 years ago to offer your shows up for streaming the day after airing on national tv.

But times have changed, technology has changed, and most importantly, consumer behaviours have changed immensely, and the big companies are changing too. But they are not changing at the same rate as technology and as the consumer.

The 2nd point i would like to make, is that now that tv shows have to be better than ever before, and the costs of producing these works has increased too, it stands to say that unless the companies are getting royalties, then it is an unsustainable business model if everybody is just pirating and not paying anymore. The old business model relied on tv stations paying lots of money, which was possible through advertising. But if people are illegally downloading and watching at their own leisure, then this doesn't fit.

Of course there is a new business model, and it now relies on subscription and some advertising, but this time via the internet. Whether this new business will sustain the industry is not yet fully known. But if you look at Netflix, which is now making more and more original content, all paid for by subscription and advertising, then it does look like it is possible, and highly profitable.

The old business model, which has been in effect for well over 50 years has made companies like Disney, Comcast, Viacom, CBS, Fox and Time Warner into such juggernauts that it is truly frightening. They have a war chest of funds at their disposal, and connections that reach to the upper echelon of politics. They have a lot to lose and are fighting tooth and nail to retain the power they have enjoyed for a long time. and to paraphrase fox news, ‘some people say, that this exactly why’ some people’ are comfortable with pirating in the first place. ‘

Andthereare alternatives.

The viewing habits of consumers have changed in just a few short years. For the first time in TV and Movie history, the consumer has most of the control. They are no longer a slave to the schedules of the corporations. They can watch whatever they like. They can watch it whenever they like. And they can also watch it wherever they like. That is a seismic shift in the way media is consumed. But this has been possible for many years now, just not legally. Up until very recently, if someone did this, there was good chance he or she was watching pirated material.

Then iTunes came along. Then google play. Then spotify, amazon prime, youtube, quikflix, ezyflix, netflix, stan presto etc. And there is a lot of other streaming services available.

And now we come to one of the most pressing issues surrounding the streaming business today.

Exclusivity.

in order to differentiate itself from its competitors, these streaming services are now paying lots of money for tv show exclusivity. in my mind, It is a nieve move from the distribution companies to make the most money from a bad situation. Services like Stan, presto ,foxtel go, and netflix are

all guilty of making plays to get the best and most exclusive content on their own platforms. And this why streaming will not take off in australia like it could. Streaming in australia has such potential to reduce piracy but could be hindered by this greedy decision.

It has been proven with music services like google play music and spotify, that if consumers are given all the media they want, all in one place, for a reasonable and low price, then they will happily pay for it. And the rate of piracy will go down too as a direct result. A report conducted by musicmetric has revealed it to have been reduced by as much as 20% over one year.

If consumers are given all the tv shows and movies they want, all in one place and for a reasonable price, then will happily pay for that too. Roughly $20 to $25 per month for both all the music and movies and tv shows would be such a great deal and most consumers who could afford it would pay it.

But what consumers wont do, is pay $12 to spotify, $10 to netflix, $10 to presto, $10 to stan, $50 to foxtel go and $10 to any other company that wants to join in just so that they can watch what they want, when they want.

And this is where the industry is making a mistake. Will people pay $50, $60, $70 bucks a month or more for multiple services when they can already get everything they want in one place, and free, like on the pirate bay or kickass torrents.

The old business practices of the corporations who make the tv shows and movies we love, have, out of necessity, made some compromises in order to accommodate the new way media is consumed today. They have done it begrudgingly, but they have done it so that they can receive the most income possible and still retain as much power as possible.

But Netflix has shown that the new world business model does work. They have reinvested the monies they have generated when they started, and now are producing critically acclaimed work like House Of Cards and Orange Is The New Black and have also commissioned 9 new programs starting this year including daredevil and sense8.

The recent court case between iinet and the makers of Dallas Buyers Club has shown that the rights holders are still going after pirates with full venom, (and just the day before yesterday the courts ruled that iinet WILL need to give over 4000 customers addresses to the makers of DBC) but until such a time as to when they fully embrace change, unfortunately, the status quo will remain, and piracy will remain a huge thorn in their side.

And that is why piracy is such a problem ..... Thank you.