The guy is doing his job to the best of his ability, and IMHO you cant fault someone for that. Its not easy doing a job no one likes you for.
As far as peer to peer, they can close the sites, but that wont stop it. The more they push, the more we will push back. The end result is no winner. Maybe its time we rethought the game and decided how to go from lose/lose to win/win. #viacom
@MarcusMaximus: There are plenty of jobs. It's whether you want to "do" that kind of work...or not. And for that little pay.
Personally, if I could collect welfare, and live in a decent apartment, with controlled rent, and walk/subway to whatever I need...shityeah... #viacom
@nutbastard: Even dirty jobs have to get done. I have one of those jobs, and its not fun at times, but, I do it to the best of my ability anyway. #viacom
while i dont dispute the dirtiness of his job, i do call into question whether or not this particular job (suing p2p users) HAS to get done. there's cleaning out the latrines and then there's jailing potheads - both dirty jobs, but only one HAS to get done. #viacom
I'd advise any folks here to read the rest of that article. The guy isn't a hardcore repentant turncoat like the excerpt makes it sound. But it's a good read on the perspective of a fairly reasonable guy on the opposite side of the fence.
His current support for graduated response still worries me. Especially that he'd prefer the courts not get involved. The fact that he at least advocates some kind of appeals process is encouraging, though. Just...a tiny bit. #viacom
How about instead of all this extraneous bullshit Youtube implements the one feature I've been craving since day one: AN OPTION TO DISABLE FUCKING AUTO-PLAY.
It's so obvious that it's ridiculous that it's taken this long.
... and yes, I already have the Firefox plugins. But I'd prefer a built-in solution. #gizmodoremainders
The USB FM radio could be useful sometimes when you want to listen to a channel the doesn't or won't broadcast.
For example.. A local station where I live cuts off it's online broadcast when it runs live KU football & basketball games (which is the only time I would want to listen). They cut the online broadcast because KU wants anyone listening online to be paying for the broadcast through another service they have.
Also you could use it for easy rebroadcasting of a station online... Take what you pick up over the air and broadcast it online. There might be some legal problems there. But it would be a super low budget and easy way for a small station to get their broadcast online. #gizmodoremainders
I don't believe surveys nor statistics....they're all BS made up to get people to do or think something they wouldnt normally. Nobody actually knows what everyone else does, all they can do is ass-u-me. If you asked 5000 people the same question you'd get 5000 different responses. #torrents
I guess I don't fit in this survey. I haven't bought a song in four years. The same with movies, game, software. They probably just said this to make the music industry feel better. #torrents
@fender7083: I haven't bought any music in what? 10 years? And yes, I also download movies and games...but I buy them when they worth the price.
Demos and trailers are not enough to evaluate them. #torrents
How could anyone see this simple statistic and draw the conclusion that piracy spurs sales? It's just as likely that music's biggest consumers are more likely to pirate music.
If I were a record company, I would not see these numbers and consider support of piracy. If there's any group whose increased piracy habits hurt record companies' profits the most, it's these big music consumers.
Now, my personal opinion on the matter is that traditional record companies will die out and be replaced a model that has promotion companies as the driving monetary force behind the music industry while supporting a model that includes free music distribution. So I'm not apologist by any means. #torrents
@Benguin: Software falls in a different category because software doesn't fit into one category. Photoshop gets pirated tons. A lot of it is by teenagers and college students who couldn't afford it anyway. Operating systems get pirated, either because folks don't want to pay, or because they have paid, got screwed by copy protection, and don't want to pay AGAIN. Games get pirated for different reasons than word processing software. It would be almost impossible to categorize and analyze the reasons why.
Which is why any survey or study that seeks to describe "software" as a whole can only be-by default-wrong. #torrents
@OCEntertainment: I understand the differences between software and music, but what I really had in mind was that article from a few days ago (either here or on Kotaku) about the iPhone dev who reported the adoption rates of pirated to paid copies of their game as 0%.
@TrollSlayer: Yeah, that's why I'm curious about it. I know I've bought a few movies that I really liked because I wanted to keep a hard copy in my personal collection (either after watching it "legitimately" or not), but that's only on certain rare cases. Most of the time I see a movie once and don't bother again with it. #torrents
Anyone have a link to the actual study results? I'm intrigued, 'cos I kind of think the conclusion being read into it isn't exactly what people think it is.
As far as I can tell, they surveyed 1000 people from 16 to 50 with internet access and then asked if they downloaded music illegally. 1 in 10 said "yes," and, apparently, those 10% spend £77 per year on music, compared to, presumably, £44 per year for the others. Which all begs the question of how many of those other 900 people actually acquired *any* music in the past year.
The other oddity is that if you run the averages, it means that out of the 1000 people represented, they averaged £47.3 year on music. That seems rather strange, given that I've read elsewhere that the average person in the UK spends £67 per year on music. You could therefore argue that the average person in the UK with internet access spends £20 per year less on music than those without.
It would seem to me that the results would be much more relevant if they surveyed people who purported to be music fans. Just sayin' that reading this article and concluding that pirates are the bread and butter of the music industry is kind of horse hockey. #torrents
@AmphetamineCrown: I think there's really few statistics that can be canonically relied on. However, even if the accuracy of the claim that "pirates buy more music" is shaky, the fact that pirates buy music at all is significant enough to poke at least a few holes in some distribution industry theories. Particularly the each download equals a lost sale theory.
But good luck convincing lawmakers and courts that people are as simple, and societies of people so straightforward as their laws would like them to be. #torrents
I generally purchase about 100 CDs a year, about 20 songs via iTunes/Amazon, and torrent 2-3 songs per year, songs I can find nowhere else - songs I would purchase if I could find to purchase.
If that is piracy, so be it. Send in the RIAA. #torrents
@AvohkahTamer Has A Lazorcat!: Yeah, I'm looking at these stats of less than 100GBP a year for the average person and thinking I have a huge problem. #torrents
How much more music, if any, would these music fanatics buy if they couldn't steal? This question should be answered, cause you can rest assured it's the only one the gray-hairs at the records companies care about. #torrents
It's also worth mentioning that even though people who download music illegally buy the most music, the bigger picture - the one that musicians who make a living from music care about most - is that the percentage of music that is legally bought has simultaneously plunged like a cliff diver with a bad parachute.
@frigg: Which in turn has, to an extent, cut down on some of the bubblegum bullshit that labels used to be able to get away with and forced more bands to go touring which makes the bands themselves more money. Also, depending on who they are touring with, can be better advertising and get their names out there to people that like their genre already. #torrents
@frigg: I read a breakdown a couple of years ago about where the money you spend on an album goes. Only 4% goes directly to the band. The rest goes to the record companies paying inflated studio prices, manufacturing, and licensing fees. #torrents
@Maori_Yelir: You said it. Bands don't make their (real) money from 99 cent itunes song sales, they make money from touring.
The labels raped and pillaged recording sales long ago. Remember kids, music piracy doesn't hurt the artist, especially if you decide to go to their show based on the music you pirated, it only hurts the label, and unless your mom works at a label you shouldn't shed any tears.
Combine this with the fact that it is becoming more and more affordable for bands to produce and distribute their music themselves, and well... Maybe it doesn't make sense for labels to continue existing in their current form much longer. #torrents
11/17/09
As far as peer to peer, they can close the sites, but that wont stop it. The more they push, the more we will push back. The end result is no winner. Maybe its time we rethought the game and decided how to go from lose/lose to win/win. #viacom
11/17/09
"Its not easy doing a job no one likes you for."
yeah but it IS easy to, you know, get another job. #viacom
11/17/09
11/17/09
we're talking viacoms top lawyer. i dont think he's short on options. #viacom
11/17/09
Personally, if I could collect welfare, and live in a decent apartment, with controlled rent, and walk/subway to whatever I need...shityeah... #viacom
11/17/09
11/17/09
while i dont dispute the dirtiness of his job, i do call into question whether or not this particular job (suing p2p users) HAS to get done. there's cleaning out the latrines and then there's jailing potheads - both dirty jobs, but only one HAS to get done. #viacom
11/17/09
when the height of ones aspirations is to suck on the government teat, one must seriously reconsider the definition of 'living'. #viacom
11/17/09
Watch "Dirty Jobs" w/Mike Rowe every Tuesday at 9 on Discovery. #viacom
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
His current support for graduated response still worries me. Especially that he'd prefer the courts not get involved. The fact that he at least advocates some kind of appeals process is encouraging, though. Just...a tiny bit. #viacom
11/17/09
Because Viacom pays his bills and his conscience doesn't. #viacom
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/13/09
It's so obvious that it's ridiculous that it's taken this long.
... and yes, I already have the Firefox plugins. But I'd prefer a built-in solution. #gizmodoremainders
11/12/09
For example.. A local station where I live cuts off it's online broadcast when it runs live KU football & basketball games (which is the only time I would want to listen). They cut the online broadcast because KU wants anyone listening online to be paying for the broadcast through another service they have.
Also you could use it for easy rebroadcasting of a station online... Take what you pick up over the air and broadcast it online. There might be some legal problems there. But it would be a super low budget and easy way for a small station to get their broadcast online. #gizmodoremainders
11/03/09
11/02/09
11/03/09
Demos and trailers are not enough to evaluate them. #torrents
11/02/09
If I were a record company, I would not see these numbers and consider support of piracy. If there's any group whose increased piracy habits hurt record companies' profits the most, it's these big music consumers.
Now, my personal opinion on the matter is that traditional record companies will die out and be replaced a model that has promotion companies as the driving monetary force behind the music industry while supporting a model that includes free music distribution. So I'm not apologist by any means. #torrents
11/01/09
11/02/09
Which is why any survey or study that seeks to describe "software" as a whole can only be-by default-wrong. #torrents
11/02/09
@TrollSlayer: Yeah, that's why I'm curious about it. I know I've bought a few movies that I really liked because I wanted to keep a hard copy in my personal collection (either after watching it "legitimately" or not), but that's only on certain rare cases. Most of the time I see a movie once and don't bother again with it. #torrents
11/01/09
As far as I can tell, they surveyed 1000 people from 16 to 50 with internet access and then asked if they downloaded music illegally. 1 in 10 said "yes," and, apparently, those 10% spend £77 per year on music, compared to, presumably, £44 per year for the others. Which all begs the question of how many of those other 900 people actually acquired *any* music in the past year.
The other oddity is that if you run the averages, it means that out of the 1000 people represented, they averaged £47.3 year on music. That seems rather strange, given that I've read elsewhere that the average person in the UK spends £67 per year on music. You could therefore argue that the average person in the UK with internet access spends £20 per year less on music than those without.
It would seem to me that the results would be much more relevant if they surveyed people who purported to be music fans. Just sayin' that reading this article and concluding that pirates are the bread and butter of the music industry is kind of horse hockey. #torrents
11/02/09
But good luck convincing lawmakers and courts that people are as simple, and societies of people so straightforward as their laws would like them to be. #torrents
11/01/09
If that is piracy, so be it. Send in the RIAA. #torrents
11/02/09
11/02/09
11/01/09
11/01/09
11/01/09
11/01/09
11/01/09
The labels raped and pillaged recording sales long ago. Remember kids, music piracy doesn't hurt the artist, especially if you decide to go to their show based on the music you pirated, it only hurts the label, and unless your mom works at a label you shouldn't shed any tears.
Combine this with the fact that it is becoming more and more affordable for bands to produce and distribute their music themselves, and well... Maybe it doesn't make sense for labels to continue existing in their current form much longer. #torrents
11/03/09
It's a myth that music piracy hurts the labels and not the artists. #torrents
11/03/09
That's like saying it turns out actors only get 4% of the budget of a movie - the rest goes to cameramen, producers, directors, gaffers, etc.
It costs money to make an album. If an album can't recoup its costs cause even though people love it, they don't pay for it, it can't get made.
Plus, if you're a band, 4% lets you earn a living from your music rather than work in Starbucks. #torrents
11/03/09
11/01/09
most pirating is re-acquiring cd music that was stolen out of your car years ago.... at least in my case... #torrents