The truth about People who Download

[ericadawn16]

This came out in July but I think it deserves a lot more press than it received back then. A study was done that revealed that "'If you download films, you have an increased interest in the cinema,' as well as buying more DVDs than the average consumer, going to theaters more often, and even finding that you’ll 'often buy a ticket to the expensive weekend-days' of theater release."

For most of us, that amounts to a DUH moment but the media companies insist they lose money from piracy. In fact, this report has never been fully released because the results came out so "wrong".

Read what little we do know:
http://techland.time.com/2011/07/21/study-saying-piracy-actually-helps-sell-movies-suppressed/

Now, we do have information released by the entertainment media that further backs up these claims:

Most pirated film of 2010: Avatar
Highest Grossing film of 2009/2010: Avatar $2,783,918,982

Most Pirated TV series of 2011: Dexter
Third Most Purchased show on iTunes in 2011: Dexter

Most Pirated Musical Act from 2007-2010: The Beatles
Albums by The Beatles sold on iTunes 11/16/10-11/23/10: 450,000 plus
Singles by The Beatles sold on iTunes 11/16/10-11/23/10: 2,000,000 plus

It is also a fact that downloading has decreased in the last few years. It could be due to the FBI and other agencies but the likeliest cause is that the networks and companies have provided more legitimate, legal options like Netflix, iTunes, On Demand, Hulu and being able to watch on the networks' own websites.

Keep in mind Doctor Who. It went from having its rampant illegal downloading referenced in a 2009 episode of Leverage to being the most purchased show in iTunes in the United States for 2011.

Comments

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

I started buying more music legitimately (that was the only thing I really pirated) when iTunes and Amazon on Demand started selling songs for $1 or so a song. I didn't want to buy entire albums of one-hit wonders, but now I can buy just one song that I like, find a good quality copy, and get it cheap and downloaded directly to my iTunes. That's BETTER than pirated shit, so I pay for it.

[develish1]

as you say, this is very much a case a DUH! for most of us.

I admit, I'll download a sample track or two if an album interests me, but then I'll BUY it if I like what I hear.

Without the chance to try it out like this I simply wouldn't buy it at all, rather than risk spending cash on something I might not enjoy and then having to go to all the trouble (and often extra expense) of returning it later.

The same goes for TV shows. My hubby will often download a couple of episodes of something that sounds interesting but he's unsure of, and then go out and buy a whole season or more on DVD if he finds he likes it.

If anything, getting "samples" like this via download actually means our house at least spends more money on legitimate product than we would without this opportunity.

There are of course some things I CAN'T buy, because the industry refuses to sell them to me by simply not making certain films or TV shows available on DVD, or via a legitimate download site.

Those I will download via other means simply to see them, but there's no loss to the industry in those cases as there's no sale to lose.

[cthonus.livejournal.com]

That's it exactly. I have no qualms about downloading old movies or programmes that are unavailable but I'm happy to spent a monthly subscription to a DVD-lending company.

Similarly if I'm unsure about an artist/album I want to listen to it before I shell out cash. If it hadn't been for (the original) Napster I'd not have half a shelf of genuine Big Finish audio dramas, nor a whole collection of disparate music CDs.

[bratflorida.livejournal.com]

I have no fear of downloading anything--but in just about every case I buy the DVDs. Who wants to watch something forever on a small computer screen? If you like it, you want the original! If it wasn't for downloads, I'd never have bought an all-region DVD player, and the stack of 30 or 40 DVDs currently littering my shelves wouldn't be there. I think it stands to reason that the average person works this way--especially backed up by the numbers you've provided.

Let me second your DUH moment!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

The studios are more than getting their pound of flesh from many people who download. They need to roll with the changes and figure out why people do it -- if availability in different countries is a problem, release things online sooner and stick some embedded ads in them OR charge a few dollars for the DL, like iTunes.

People who borrowed movies from video stores, taped them at home (I remember you, 1980s!) and let friends borrow them didn't kill the film studios either.

I'm not sure if the numbers prove that DLs help sales, or that these things are just popular for purchase AND download, but they're making a profit. I do think most people who purchase media do it to support the kind of media they like (I do - I mean, I started watching Torchwood on YouTube and now I own everything that's been released in DVD form.)

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yep, I very rarely download music since Spotify came along. And there's no doubt that people having access to so much more content than they used to has increased sales. The entertainment industry is still just unable to get past the idea of selling their stuff on finite numbers of shiny discs, and that world is dying. It's not what most people want these days, and the industry needs to adapt.

Imagine how well something like Spotify or Netflix could do if it provided even more content than it has now. They could even raise the price a bit and still increase their subscriber count, if people could bank on finding 90% of anything they look for, you know? Plus the industry would make money on content that's been sitting in vaults for ages that isn't worth physically releasing. It seems like a no-brainer to me, but what do I know, right? :)

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

It's not what most people want these days, and the industry needs to adapt.

Exactly, it reminds me of when the automobile industry killed the electric car, kept their head in the sand and we had to bail them out.

Yes, to your last point as well, in fact it would probably be better for film preservation if there were digital copies all over the world instead of just one copy sitting in a vault.