Agrippina wrote:Then finally Sony television broadcast the series from the beginning and then we only saw the last season, and when I asked why not, our satellite provider said there was "not enough interest in American politics."

j.mills wrote:

Agrippina wrote:Then finally Sony television broadcast the series from the beginning and then we only saw the last season, and when I asked why not, our satellite provider said there was "not enough interest in American politics."

Or rather, not enough interest at your satellite provider's HQ in treating their customers with courtesy and finishing what they started.

My thoughts on S.O.P.A.

by Paulo Coelho on January 20, 2012

IN THE former Soviet Union, in the late 1950s and 60s, many books that questioned the political system began to be circulated privately in mimeographed form. Their authors never earned a penny in royalties. On the contrary, they were persecuted, denounced in the official press, and sent into exile in the notorious Siberian gulags. Yet they continued to write.

Why? Because they needed to share what they were feeling. From the Gospels to political manifestos, literature has allowed ideas to travel and even to change the world.

I have nothing against people earning money from their books; that’s how I make my living.
But look at what’s happening now. Stop Online Piracy Act (S.O.P.A) may disrupt internet. This is a REAL DANGER, not only for Americans, but for all of us, as the law – if approved – will affect the whole planet.

And how do I feel about this?
As an author, I should be defending ‘intellectual property’, but I’m not.

Pirates of the world, unite and pirate everything I’ve ever written!

The good old days, when each idea had an owner, are gone forever.
First, because all anyone ever does is recycle the same four themes: a love story between two people, a love triangle, the struggle for power, and the story of a journey.
Second, because all writers want what they write to be read, whether in a newspaper, blog, pamphlet, or on a wall.

The more often we hear a song on the radio, the keener we are to buy the CD. It’s the same with literature.

The more people ‘pirate’ a book, the better. If they like the beginning, they’ll buy the whole book the next day, because there’s nothing more tiring than reading long screeds of text on a computer screen.

1. Some people will say: You’re rich enough to allow your books to be distributed for free.

That’s true. I am rich. But was it the desire to make money that drove me to write? No. My family and my teachers all said that there was no future in writing.
I started writing and I continue to write because it gives me pleasure and gives meaning to my existence. If money were the motive, I could have stopped writing ages ago and saved myself having to put up with invariably negative reviews.

2. The publishing industry will say: Artists can’t survive if they’re not paid.

In 1999, when I was first published in Russia ( with a print- run of 3,000), the country was suffering a severe paper shortage. By chance, I discovered a ‘ pirate’ edition of The Alchemist and posted it on my web page.
An year later, when the crisis was resolved, I sold 10,000 copies of the print edition.
By 2002, I had sold a million copies in Russia, and I have now sold over 12 million.

When I traveled across Russia by train, I met several people who told me that they had first discovered my work through the ‘ pirated’ edition I posted on my website. Nowadays, I run a ‘Pirate Coelho’ website, giving links to any books of mine that are available on P2P sites.
And my sales continue to grow — nearly 140 million copies world wide.

When you’ve eaten an orange, you have to go back to the shop to buy another. In that case, it makes sense to pay on the spot.
With an object of art, you’re not buying paper, ink, paintbrush, canvas or musical notes, but the idea born out of a combination of those products.

‘Pirating’ can act as an introduction to an artist’s work. If you like his or her idea, then you will want to have it in your house; a good idea doesn’t need protection.

The rest is either greed or ignorance

Busta Rhymes Backs Megaupload, Says Record Labels Are The Real Criminals

[...]

There's a key point in all of this that we missed in our earlier analysis about paid accounts at Megaupload. In the indictment, the government seems to assume that paid accounts are clearly all about illegal infringing works. But that's not always the case. In fact, plenty of big name artists -- especially in the hip hop world -- use the paid accounts to make themselves money. This is how they release tracks. You sign up for a paid account from services like Megaupload, which pay you if you get a ton of downloads. For big name artists, that's easy: of course you get a ton of downloads. So it's a great business model for artists: they get paid and their fans get music for free. Everyone wins. Oh... except for the old gatekeeper labels.

In fact, this is part of the ecosystem, especially in the hip hop world. It's why the artists also support those hip hop blogs that the RIAA insists are dens of pure thievery. The artists release their tracks to those blogs, knowing they'll get tons of downloads -- and actually get money. If they do deals with labels, they know they'll never see a dime. Putting music on Megaupload is a way to get paid. Working with a gatekeeper is not.


[...]

Ihavenofingerprints wrote:They should just move the fuck on and start focusing their efforts on products which can't be carbon-copied in the space of 10 seconds. I'll buy a blue-ray DVD because you don't get the same quality on an internet copy. But I wont pay $10 for 5 .mp3 songs that I can copy in about 20 seconds.

this gets even sillier when you look at ebooks, Terry Pratchet book, Hardback £9.99, Ebook £20.

MattHunX wrote:

If it weren't for piracy, torrents sites, YouTube...etc. I wouldn't even know this forum exist. I wouldn't have even heard of Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett, Harris, Barker, Tyson, Krauss, Filippenko...etc. I wouldn't have even seen all the documentaries and other educational material that I have in these few years, which gave me more knowledge about the world than the poor education system we have in my country (and as I hear, in lots of others). And lets not even go into Wikipedia's recent struggle.

Wiðercora wrote:

Ihavenofingerprints wrote:They should just move the fuck on and start focusing their efforts on products which can't be carbon-copied in the space of 10 seconds. I'll buy a blue-ray DVD because you don't get the same quality on an internet copy. But I wont pay $10 for 5 .mp3 songs that I can copy in about 20 seconds.

$10 for 5 songs? You're seriously being ripped off there. I think the last album I bought digitally* was £5 for 10 songs. And it was so worth it.

AndreD wrote:

Wiðercora wrote:

Ihavenofingerprints wrote:They should just move the fuck on and start focusing their efforts on products which can't be carbon-copied in the space of 10 seconds. I'll buy a blue-ray DVD because you don't get the same quality on an internet copy. But I wont pay $10 for 5 .mp3 songs that I can copy in about 20 seconds.

$10 for 5 songs? You're seriously being ripped off there. I think the last album I bought digitally* was £5 for 10 songs. And it was so worth it.

iTunes Australia store charges between $1.20 and $2.20 per song (I suppose depending on which record label owns it and I think the cheapest tend to be singles). Most seem to be $2.20.

josephchoi wrote::coffee:

PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn wrote:not to mention numerous studies that show most people who pirate spend more on average on music/video/games that the rest
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/illegal-downloaders-spend-the-most-on-music-says-poll-1812776.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pirates-buy-more-music