I wish MAFIAA would realize one day that I've never bought a cd, vhs, or dvd product (or a game or application, for that matter) simply because I couldn't have been able to copy it from somewhere.
Everytime I've bought something has been because I've realized that it's a good album, movie or game that I want to own. Emphasis here: I want to own the release. This means it doesn't matter if I can get it free because I want to buy it. It also means that subscriptions or DRM remove me from owning what I want to own. I pay for the ability to own what I bought, and for that only.
Now, getting to know what I want to own is a tricky question. I may have read a game review and known that I want to buy tht game. Perhaps a movie was made by someone I know makes good movies, and I know I want to own his next film. Or I hear music at my friend's place and decide that I want that album too. Or I "pirate" releases from a friend or Piratebay or usenet and realize hey this is good stuff, why don't I look up a collection box or greatest hits album somewhere.
However, what has changed is that I no longer want physical cds, dvds, or game boxes. I want what Piratebay offers: downloadable .avi files well-transcoded or flac files without DRM. And I want it easily, from the same unencumbered source instead of hunting for online music stores and trying to figure out if they offer what I want in the right format.
I wonder what happened if Piratebay offered a Pay button on top. You could, if you wanted, pay an amount you think it's worth for what ever downloads you liked. There would be no minimum or set prices because you can get what you want for free anyway. The money would go to the production company or whoever owns the copyright to the song/film/game in question. It would be absolutely net-positive for the copyright owners because the worst that can happen is they get nothing which is exactly what they have now. If you have enough channels that people can use to pay you, a number of them actually will do that, because it's easy and people like to pay for what they want to own.
"I wonder what happened if Piratebay offered a Pay button on top."
Can't happen, won't happen. Not only because finding who to pay to would be a hassle, but regulating that would be a disaster. Who get's to enter PayPal email? The uploader? Then I would put in mine.
But more importantly, even if money was sent to verified addresses, it would still likely be illegal. Studios couldn't take the money without accounting for that, and accounting would mean endorsement, and they surely don't want to endorse it in any way at all.
It's a thought experiment, I think you don't have to be so literal. The point is that people will probably pay for their content if they are given the freedom to actually use it as they see fit.
Having such a button on TPB is a thought experiment, but the process is exactly why I'm shifting away from physical media and buying high quality no-DRM music from iTunes. This is also why I won't buy movies or shows from iTunes, ever, until they drop DRM. I just wish the whole content was aggregated in one worldwide store instead of having segregated regional stores.
If I buy something today, I want to have 1. the best possible quality, 2. be able to read it now on whatever device I want (which means transcoding it to any size I want as I don't want to fill my phone with a 20GB 1080p movie), and 3. to be able to pick it up ten, twenty years down the road and read it as is. Anything else is equivalent to trying to sell me the same content twice and absolutely unacceptable.
It could be great propaganda if the Pirate Bay just did everything themselves. Add the button for any torrents where they know for sure how to send money to the copyright holder, and just send them a cheque in the mail. And of course, make all the revenues public.
Everytime I've bought something has been because I've realized that it's a good album, movie or game that I want to own. Emphasis here: I want to own the release. This means it doesn't matter if I can get it free because I want to buy it. It also means that subscriptions or DRM remove me from owning what I want to own. I pay for the ability to own what I bought, and for that only.
Now, getting to know what I want to own is a tricky question. I may have read a game review and known that I want to buy tht game. Perhaps a movie was made by someone I know makes good movies, and I know I want to own his next film. Or I hear music at my friend's place and decide that I want that album too. Or I "pirate" releases from a friend or Piratebay or usenet and realize hey this is good stuff, why don't I look up a collection box or greatest hits album somewhere.
However, what has changed is that I no longer want physical cds, dvds, or game boxes. I want what Piratebay offers: downloadable .avi files well-transcoded or flac files without DRM. And I want it easily, from the same unencumbered source instead of hunting for online music stores and trying to figure out if they offer what I want in the right format.
I wonder what happened if Piratebay offered a Pay button on top. You could, if you wanted, pay an amount you think it's worth for what ever downloads you liked. There would be no minimum or set prices because you can get what you want for free anyway. The money would go to the production company or whoever owns the copyright to the song/film/game in question. It would be absolutely net-positive for the copyright owners because the worst that can happen is they get nothing which is exactly what they have now. If you have enough channels that people can use to pay you, a number of them actually will do that, because it's easy and people like to pay for what they want to own.