I Stole Your CD, and I Want My Money Back

Time to talk about piracy. Far be it from me to sit there and rant on about how evil it is, how it hurts the artists, and how you should go to jail. If that were the case, I'd be in the cell with you. But lets talk about the other side of piracy, how it actually helps the industry.

If it exists, you can steal it on the internet. Lets face facts, that is the truth. Anything from classical to the new KMFDM, its there and ripe for the taking. And odds are, someone you know is stealing it by the gig. If you aren't doing it yourself, that is. Now ask the stuck up money grubbers in charge of the major networks, labels, and anything even remotely related to any form of art... And you're a thief. A no good money-stealing thief. But they don't seem to care about the fact they're stealing just as much, more actually, from the artists. Most living musicians make their money on live shows and merchandising, not off the actual cd/digital sales. Last I saw, it was in the ballpark of 1%. One whole percent. Where's the other ninety nine? Well, go to the homepage of your favorite record label, and look at their CEOs. Odds are, that ninety nine percent is in their wallet.

So, with that in mind, how is piracy hurting the artist? In all reality, it isn't. Or at least it isn't enough to call for the end of cd sales like many right wing nutjobs will cry out. If you, or your pirate friend (ok, lets cut the shit, if you're reading this, odds are you're the damn pirate) are anything like a lot of pirates, you're using piracy as a "try it before you buy it" mechanism. Who wants to waste $20 on a cd that turns out to be a sub par piece of crap? And then turns around and goes platinum, just because enough people weren't sure of how craptacular it was, and bought it. The trend has become 1) pirate downloads cd, 2) pirate listens to cd and decides if 3a) its worth buying, and buys it or 3b) its not worth putting money on and giving the record sales that number to add to promotion and deletes it. Computer software does this, its called shareware. If you like it, you buy it. But the main point is you get to give it a trial period to form an opinion. Singles on the radio is not the same. More so when you listen to music that doesn't receive radio play, like I do. If its good enough to keep, odds are money will go into it, either in cd sales or live events, merchandise, and other venues where the artists get a larger share or better feedback.

Let's step away from music for a moment and look at the movies. $8 is a low price for a ticket nowadays. The last movie I saw in theaters, I put down a $10 bill before I even saw the concession stand. Then I had to sit in a sticky theater full of screaming children that ran up and down the aisles, deal with sound that was out of sync, and video that bounced more than a stripper's ass. All just to see a two hour movie that I couldn't pay attention to. Now I have to wait six months for it to hit DVD, just so I can pay $20 more to finally see the entirety of the movie I paid $10 for six months ago.

Let's add another dimension to that scenario. One that really isn't as uncommon as you'd think. Lets say I have a mental issue such as Social Anxiety Disorder. Now how can I go to a theater with 150 other people, dozens of screaming children, and all those other factors? Its simple, I really can't without severe medication or the symptoms of my disorder flaring up. So what recourse am I left to? Waiting six months for the DVD, having to plug my ears and turn my TV off not to have the movie spoiled for me? Yeah fucking right. I'm going to turn on my PC and download the movie. Why? Reasonable Accommodations. The Americans With Disabilities Act. Social Anxiety Disorder puts me under the label of disabled. The movie industry has to accommodate for people in wheelchairs by putting wheelchair-accessible seating in. They should have to accommodate for my problem somehow. Not too long ago they spoke of putting the DVDs out side-by-side with the theatrical release. Not bad, but I'd have to pay $20 for the DVD, while everyone else pays half that for the theater! How is that reasonable accommodations, making me pay twice as much just because I can't deal with theaters?

Then a third area of piracy. Software. Now, this is really where the "try it before you buy it" comes into play. A lot of software companies either release stuff for free or give a shareware license. Use it for a period, and if you like it, pay for it. Sensible enough. Most commercial programs have open-source alternatives for free, anyway. Now, there's another reason for piracy. A lot of programs, games most of all, go out of print. The company decides, for whatever reason, to just up and stop putting out a given game. So what are the options? Pay out the ass for a scratched up copy on Ebay... or piracy. I don't know about you, but paying $50 for a scratched up cd of a game that sold for $25 isn't exactly intelligent.

I'm pretty sure where anyone who isn't getting a share of the profits can see how piracy, in a certain light, makes sense. It is a system that fills in the holes that the consumer has found in the process. Holes that save the consumer a lot of disappointment or possible problems. Until a day comes where a better system comes along, we're either left with two options. Pay out and support a broken system, or don't put any money out and suffer ourselves.