TheGuardian has an article by Alan Cox, and he is very clear about the current powers of the movie industry. The movie industry seems to be become like the record labels and also starts to complain more and more about losses due piracy.
Alan Cox in his article explains that downloading movies requires a pretty fast connection and that only quality versions will be available when they are released on DVD. (other versions are made with digital camera's in movie theathers and are pretty bad quality)
Consider the VCR. When VCRs and Beta recorders first appeared, the MPAA made an aggressive attempt to have their recording capacities banned. Recording films off TV was, they said, a mega-threat which would cost Hollywood billions in lost profits, and mean the ruin of the industry. The claim, of course, was rubbish. Instead home video created a new product, and several new revenue streams. Consumers taped off air, but they also went out and bought studio videotapes at premium prices. |
But is the MPAA's claim that Spider-Man piracy has cost Columbia Tristar millions in lost profits even true? Spider-Man is one of the most successful studio releases of recent years. Currently the only pirate versions available on the internet are of incredibly bad quality, shot by somebody's camcorder off a cinema screen. To download them from the web, you have to be fanatical, and very easily pleased.
High-quality "pirate" versions of Spider-Man or Attack of the Clones will not be available until the DVD comes out; downloading them will require a super-fast internet connection. The DVD release of both films is many months away. What fanatical Star Wars or Spidey fan is going to sit at home for six months waiting for a decent pirate internet version without seeing it at the pictures (probably several times) first?
Every new technology so far introduced (whether current such as CDs and DVDs, or defunct like 8-tracks and Beta players) has seen an increase in distributors' sales and profits.These profits are enhanced by the manipulation of copyright and intellectual property law, and by restrictive practices such as the creation of six arbitrary DVD "regions" instead of the "one world" of CDs.
I think Alan Cox is right, the industries are becoming more powerfull and they are always afraid to loose money, while being in one of the most profitable industries on the planet! Read his article here.
Source: Theguardian
