Piracy - A problem with consumers or the industry?

ExRayTed

ExRayTed

ExRayTed

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Following on from a minor discussion in the 'What film did you watch last night' thread I thought I'd ask for opinion in a separate thread.

So what are peoples thoughts? Is movie piracy a consumer problem that needs enforcing away or is it an industry issue?

My contention is that the movie industry has for years refused to meet the needs of the consumer wanting to watch the latest movies, leaving the options of download/stream illegally or wait for the content to be commercially available.

I believe that if a new distribution model was set up so as to allow people to watch the latest movies how they like, whether that be download/stream to their living rooms or go to the cinema, then this would stop a lot of piracy. Of course there will still be people who download for free anyway, much like with music, but I firmly believe the way to combat piracy is to compete with it not try and legislate it away.

Thoughts?

I should add - please keep discussions sensible with no linking (disguised or otherwise) to download/streaming sites or methods :)
 
My thoughts are:

1) I will never pay to watch TV channels which also receive funding from advertising.
2) I don't like all of the region distribution rights that prevent broadcasters and OTT providers showing content in some areas but not others.
3) I don't like the delays to some programming that is shown in the UK after airing in the US.
 
I definitely believe it to be something where both the industry and consumers need to meet each other half way. In my experience of those pirating only about 30% or so are freeloaders who absolutely wouldn't pay the larger number are consumers the media companies are failing.

Amongst my acquaintances for instance Spotify almost killed music pirating over night - though I believe that more could be done to maximise revenue from that - I'd like a few more options within the ecosystem of platforms like Spotify to support the artists I enjoy listening to above and beyond just what comes out of the subscription fee - they made some earlier moves to bring some paid options and merchandising into it but that seems to have died off.
 
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w1lliam said:
Odeon and Cineworld do unlimited monthly cards for less than £20 a month.

If that's too much...
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Many people would be much happier to watch the film in their own home.

The industry does need to change. It is slowly doing so, kicking and screaming.

A decent subscription based model like Spotify would kill a significant amount of piracy over night. Unfortunately what we have now (better than nothing) is half a dozen or more streaming services all with their own "exclusive" film right for any big recent films, with most of the films available just straight to video, non blockbuster or 10 years old.
 
early on, when music downloading etc was popular, I would say it was the industry's fault for not working fast enough to try to win over people who would have paid for on-demand subscription services like Netflix etc, but nowadays, I think it's more of a people problem (although the industry can be stupid for releasing things at different times around the world, especially when no additional editing such as dubbing needs to be done)
 
Amp34 said:
Many people would be much happier to watch the film in their own home.
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I find the thought of cinema goers eating and talking during the film repellent and it's the first thing that usually puts me off from going. If I really want to watch a film I'll try to watch the first showing when it's quieter.
 
uvarvu said:
I find the thought of cinema goers eating and talking during the film repellent and it's the first thing that usually puts me off from going. If I really want to watch a film I'll try to watch the first showing when it's quieter.
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Absolutely this, I detest going to the cinema because of people :p
 
uvarvu said:
I find the thought of cinema goers eating and talking during the film repellent and it's the first thing that usually puts me off from going. If I really want to watch a film I'll try to watch the first showing when it's quieter.
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Same, hence I tend to pick really late showings. If it turns out there is someone annoying I'll just leave and try again. Helps that I live 5mins away.
 
I think the major issue right now is availability,For example on our Netflix in the UK doesn't have a lot of stuff the US version has,Same with music streaming sites.

Also another factor is greed,£40+ for a game that nowadays you cannot even try a Demo before buying so what do people do..pirate it first to see if its any good,Some then buy it legit..some dont.
 
I pay £9 a month for Netflix and £79 a year for Amazon prime.

I would not feel guilty downloading a movie from a .torrent site that is not on either of those services (not that I would ever do that).

I also go to the cinema roughly once a month on 2 for 1 Tuesdays.

I did use to use a dns proxy for changing regions but now netflix have blocked all of them I'm finding less and less on netflix that I actually want to watch.

To answer the initial question, it's a bit of both.

The movie/tv industry really need to get with the times. The price of a cinema ticket is ridiculous these days. The average of £4-5 to rent an HD movie is also crazy.

I feel they would make a lot more money if they priced things sensibly not because less people would pirate but because many more people would rent anything if it was cheaper. I'm not going to rent or go to the cinema to see a movie I'm not 100% sure about.

I'd say 80% industry problem, 20% (or less) consumer problem.
 
When I was younger, everyone was downloading everything. I can't actually remember the last film I watched "illegally" now. Things are a lot better, IMO.

The biggest driver for me was availability - where they stagger releases around the world for example.
 
james.miller said:
5 quid is crazy? thousands of man hours go in to making a movie. Tens of thousands, even, and you begrudge paying a fiver to see it?
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For me, personally? Yes I think £5 is too much to rent a film that may or not be any good when I'm already paying for streaming services and £18 for a cinema ticket.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Same, hence I tend to pick really late showings. If it turns out there is someone annoying I'll just leave and try again. Helps that I live 5mins away.
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I work 5pm to 1am, so when I go to the cinema I go on a weekday during the day. More often than not is just me and the wife in the room.
 
If you could get the latest films as they are released in the cinema I would rent them a lot more, I'd even pay above the average cinema ticket to get the film at home.

Is this the way forward?
 
It comes down to greed, the studios and distributors don't want to adapt to new ways because they are worried they might not make as much money, instead they lie about how much piracy costs them. If they did adapt and open up a subscription service that allowed users to see new films at a price that wasn't too silly, I think lots of people (myself included) would jump right on-board.

In the meantime, I'll occasionally go to the cinema, everything else I want to see gets acquired, I don't want to wait until 5 years down the line when it might appear on Netflix, (starting to question why I still pay for that, but that's another story).
 
Clov!s said:
If you could get the latest films as they are released in the cinema I would rent them a lot more, I'd even pay above the average cinema ticket to get the film at home.

Is this the way forward?
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I'd be happy enough with a short delay - but even these days way too often you get stuff that doesn't make it to digital download/stream until 6 months to 2 years after release if you are lucky and/or exclusives to platforms that aren't even the more mainstream ones.
 
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