Comment on "Mickey 17" releases digitally on March 25 — only 18 days after its theatrical debut
doodledup@lemmy.world 2 days agoYou’re wrong. If the best way for studios to make money is streaming, then restricing access to the corresponding streaming service is their best way to make money. And they will do it.
Pirates might believe they protest against this practice. But actually, they just fuel this system even further by not voting with their money for alternatives. And there ARE alternatives: buy blurays, go to theatres, buy merch. Pirates will soon realize that these alternatives will also disappear. ‘Protesting’ with pirating is not going to help that.
Piracy is a form of protest and a very powerful one at that, but let’s we that argument aside for the moment.
Over the last seven years, Hollywood studios have decreased movie production. And yet their revenue and profit margins have actually increased!
They do this by underpaying writers, usurping copyrighted materials from other countries and using AI.
Let’s stay on topic. I’d like to know from you how piracy protest can force studios to change their business models? Enlighten me.
The way I see it studios will double down on their shitty business practices the more people do piracy. The exact opposite of what pirate’s protests intend to accomplish. Because the only people who are left paying are paying for the shitty business models. So shitty business practices are the most profitable way. Instead of not paying at all, a better solution would be to pay for good alternative solutions. Like buying merch, buying blurays, going to theatres. If everyone does that, shitty business practices will become unprofitable.
I think this is a pretty good take, in line with other forms of effective protest. I don’t actually believe that most pirates are genuine protestors, though. They are just people who don’t want to pay and feel guilty about it, so instead of just admitting that they don’t want to pay they perform some moral gymnastics to rationalise their behaviour and keep the cognitive dissonance at bay. The average pirate’s train of thought goes something like this “you didn’t give me exactly what I wanted so now I am morally entitled to everything of yours for free until I decide otherwise”.
DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 1 day ago
Buying Blu-ray, going to theaters, and buying merchandise aren’t alternatives to owning digitally. I won’t speak for all pirates, but I just want to own a digital copy of what i pay for. Even streaming with a paid subscription isn’t a viable alternative. I don’t pirate to protest, I pirate because there’s no other choice.
doodledup@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You can pirate your digital copy and support the artists in ways that don’t support streaming. You can buy blurays for example, rip them using MakeMKV to get a digital copy. It’s piracy, but it supports a business model that’s at least somewhat based on ownership.