The future of the entertainment industry

~shrug~

I agree with Savage. Culture as we knew it died when they turned the internet on, and copyright probably will be abolished.

Oh well.

Yeah, tell me about it. Which makes me sad, as I love culture and think it's vitally important to society. And part of the reason why I hate the publishers and the current method of copyright is that it's strangling creators from being able to create. It's just that the opposite extreme will also strangle creativity.

Just... sigh.

The assumption is that, as I said, you've consumed the content, and as such you have no intention of using the package in and of itself again, there's little to no actual difference between say, giving the package to a friend and making a copy of the package and giving the copy to the friend. The difference is strictly in legal terms. There's actual no fundamental ethical, moral or economic difference in the two situations.

The problem is that we've already long since normalized actions which basically tell the creator "Fuck you!". It's just that we're more efficient with it these days. Now, I think this is both a cultural and an economic issue, and not so much a legal issue.

I stand by my point that this is not about copyright, or at least it shouldn't be ONLY about copyright. We can do things that screw creators in ways that are perfectly legal and consistent with copyright. And we all do. If we want to respect creators, it's less about changing the laws, and it's more about educating people..if you have the money, buy the book. Don't get a loan of it, don't get it out of the library. Respect the creator and buy it. Recycle that newspaper when you're done with it. Fuck Game Stop. Fuck Redbox.

The problem is that when content is released it often becomes culture. And making it a part of culture, in a way makes it out of your control. Because people who don't have the resources, may not want to feel disconnected from the culture. And as less and less people have the resources, well..you see an increase in people going to different channels to get their fix. To stay connected.

There IS a balance. IF you don't want content to become culture, don't let it. Keep it on your computer, peruse it yourself, enjoy it. But once it becomes culture, it really is, to a degree out of your control. And to be honest in a lot of cases that's a good thing. Because content becoming culture is how you make money off of it. That's what gives it economic value.

We need to be very careful. The idea that someone can get something for free is not a problem. There's a lot of ways we can do that, both legal and illegal. The problem is finding a balance between rewarding the creator and maximizing accessibility of the cultural good. Generally how this is done, is providing access at a multitude of different price points. From premium prices all the way down to free (or nearly free). The big problem is that too many publishers/creators believe that they don't have to do this.

This is no different than any other economic decision, to be honest.

Edit: The reason I oppose stricter copyright law, is because I see no reason to think that stricter copyright law won't come with less pricing and availability options.

edited 19th Nov '11 2:10:38 PM by Karmakin

@Karmakin

Believe it or not, you and I are honestly in agreement. Your whole post makes a lot of sense.

I also want to weaken copyright somewhat myself. Make it easier yet still fair to creators to create both non-commercial and commercial derivative works while the copyright is still valid. Make it easier to deal fairly with Abandonware and No Export for You issues. Make it easier for people who want to pay for a copy from or otherwise support the creator to do so. Etc.

Nor do I want to keep content from ever becoming culture, as that's a vital step in the process. Nor do I have a problem with honest ways to consume media for free or cheap, that were created with a creator's consent and with some form of fair compensation in return.

I just, well. Actually want that balance, where neither the creator nor the consumer has unilateral power over the other. Culture should be a mutually consenting shared social experience between creators and the audience.

edited 19th Nov '11 2:27:03 PM by Jeysie

Probably so.

Ideally, I'd be ok with Ye Olde Grand Compromise. Increase penalties for commercial piracy, but in exchange, Fair Use and Right of First Sale would be codified into law (with teeth, for example Apple should be forced to allow in some way the ability to transfer song licenses), as well as an overall reduction of the amount of time for content to go into non-commercial public domain, and a way to deal with orphaned works.

Sounds good to me. I've actually been particularly annoyed with how Fair Use and Right of First Sale have kept getting chipped and chipped and chipped away at in recent years.

I mean, once you sell me a copy of your performance, IMHO I should be able to convert, copy, and play it for my own personal use on any compatible device I personally own, and I should be able to sell or otherwise transfer access to my copy to someone else in my stead.

edited 19th Nov '11 2:32:48 PM by Jeysie

For me,the whole ideological side of the thing mostly boils down to what I posted at the end of #76, about the Rule of Law.

The Rule of Law is a necessary element of a properly functioning democracy, and the Rule of Law itself has neccessary elements like legal certainity, universal accountability, and avoidance of arbitrariness:

That can't happen, as long as there are millions of works are floating around us in the air, to be grabbed by millions of people, and tossed back and forth, wile some of their creators are slightly bothered by piracy, some see it as a necessary evil, some try to get you in jail, and some openly encouage you to pirate their shit, to screw with their publisher. The law enforcement itself can only randomly arrest 0,01% of pirates, and then give them arbitary punishments somewhere in-between the downloaded product's price, and several hundred thousand dollars.

From this direction, even a working anti-piracy system would be a solution, but as long as it's unlikely to be made, the economy and the law must be corrected to fit reality, because they must match each other in one way or the other

And, well, yeah, I also believe that it would be more benefical for everyone, including the artists, if they would focus on business models that allow them to make make unrestricted content and still profit from it, but I wouldn't insist on all of them making the shift if it wouldn't be necessary.

edited 19th Nov '11 3:46:50 PM by Ever9