‘Good’ Pirates Help Companies Sell More Products
Written by enigmax on March 24, 2008If you are downloading stuff you wouldn’t have bought in the first place, according to economist Karen Croxson, you are probably doing the company that created the product a big favor. You, Mr ‘Good’ Pirate, are telling your friends, adding to the media ‘buzz’ and driving up sales.
Imagine a situation in the future where Internet pirates are accepted - maybe even recruited - to replace expensive marketing and consumer awareness teams when bringing a product to market. Imagine the reward for the pirate was a free copy of the software/media he agrees to promote. According to an economist, it could be happening right now.
In her talk at the Annual Conference of the Royal Economic Society, Oxford economist Karen Croxson says that when people copy software, music and movies, it may actually help the producer.
“Digital piracy has been claimed to endanger whole industries” said Ms Croxson. “A natural question to ask is: Why do some companies develop water-tight technology to safeguard their intellectual property when others appear more relaxed about copying?”
Many pirates say that they would never have bought much of the stuff they downloaded or copied. If you fall into this category, you might be a ‘good’ or ‘promotional’ pirate. Croxson says that piracy is only a threat to sales when people who originally intended to buy, didn’t, and pirated instead. The others - of which there a many, many millions - never intended to buy and these, says Croxson, cannot possibly harm the seller.
Far from the “all pirates are evil” cry, these pirates tell their friends, and they tell their friends and so the priceless product ‘buzz’ is generated. This consumer ‘buzz’ is difficult to put a price on, but needless to say it’s very valuable indeed. Even if companies ‘paid’ a pirate with a free copy of their product in exchange for him spreading the word about the product, it’s still a fantastic deal - especially if these ‘promotional’ pirates weren’t going to buy the product in the first instance.
Also considered by Croxson are the reasons why people are tempted to copy something, which include value put on time, concerns about being caught and moral issues. Using these and other factors enables Croxson to discover piracy’s true threat to sales of a product and suggest the best responses.
Due to computer games being most popular in the youth market, they are heavily protected. Although young people place a lot of value on games, they have fewer fears when it comes to copying and have more time than most to do so. It’s suggested that this could be ‘bad’ piracy, in that these activities negatively affect sales, without the ‘promotional’ benefits.
On the other hand, business software companies put a lot less effort into anti-piracy measures. It’s suggested that people who use software in the course of their business place higher value on it, have less time to pirate and worry more about the legal aspects, so are less likely to pirate.
Croxson said: ‘With valuable users shying away from copying, the sellers in the business software market find themselves more naturally insulated against lost sales. Those more inclined to pirate, perhaps students, probably wouldn’t have bought the product anyway, so represent virtually free promotion. This helps explain why business software companies do not put as many resources into protection as computer games manufacturers.”
“Building a theoretical model of `promotional piracy’,” says Croxson, “it is possible to distinguish markets that are best advised to put considerable resource into safeguarding their products from others which may live quite comfortably with a higher incidence of digital piracy.”
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I believe there is great truth to this article.
Several months ago I downloaded an mp3 pack that included a few Michael Buble songs. I wasn’t a huge fan but I figured my mother would enjoy his music so I burnt her a disk to play when entertaining.
She fell in love with the music and while she recieves it for free, I know for a fact at least a dozen of her friends have purchased several of his albums, especially his Christmas album.
This is a perfect example of how I pirated something that I never would have purchased, or even knew existed, but inadvertently advertised for several hundred dollars in sales.
No such thing as “good pirates”!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
[quote comment="317870"]lol yea right. if i were so excited about an app to tell my friends i would just link them to the torrent. nobody would buy it.[/quote]
I’ve never bought a copy of Nero, but since I’m in IT everyone asks me what I use to burn stuff. I tell them “Nero” and they go out and Buy “Nero Ultimate: Hyper Expensive Pack” the next day. I’ve probably sold 50 copies for them. I figure we’re even.
I’ll recommend software to anyone. I won’t offer pirated stuff to anyone who I’m not absolutely sure is going to just go find a pirated version of whatever I recommended anyway, I sure as hell will not install any pirated stuff on anyone else’s computer, and I will actively discourage the use of pirated software on any sort of business machine.
I also still purchase DVDs, CDs and games even though they may be available as a .torrent. And it is unlikely that I would have purchased 99% of the stuff I have P2P’d, found on Usenet or Rapidshare over the years. As far as CDs go though Canadian Law has reinforced my legal right to download to my hearts content, as long as I pay the tax on the media. Eat that CIRA, RIAA, etc. Demonid is a chickshit that should have stood up to the CIRA and taken .torrent hosting to Supreme Court to set precedent for all .torrent sites.
Arrrrr! Ramming Speed, aye Captain!
[quote comment="317998"]No such thing as “good pirates”!
[/quote]
True, they’re just good. btw why do u keep advertising your crap?
I’ve never understood the shareware concept. They give you a product and challenge you to defeat its limitations by use of a simple serial or patch, and when you take control of your own PC which they interfere with they call it theft. Since when is it illegal to make changes on your own PC? If they don’t want you to do that then don’t give it in the first place.
I agree with the article and I too don’t lose sleep over the fact that there may be something I would’ve bought if I could afford it, but downloaded instead. If they didn’t try so hard to protect it, bloating the code and inflating the cost, I probably wouldn’t give it much attention. Those of us with no work and who maybe don’t use credit cards either, should have some concessions, since there are so very few in other areas. We still have the same bills to pay as everyone else and can’t afford greedy jacked up prices, and why should we have to miss out on life? Price stuff reasonably and fairly and even the poor may start buying more.
I’ve done my part in promoting good rare media, and people end up buying it after scouring the world, as they can’t find it online anymore, and they’re too proud to ask for a copy.
Well I just composed a thoughtful and well-mannered response and TF has refused to post it. Thanks a lot!
[quote comment="317952"]@ ace hall
Are you sure, that in case you couldn’t pirate you wouldn’t look for *free* alternatives? If you would then your current actions still don’t neccessarily count for loss of sales, but more in the lines of ‘potential loss’. Which, despite what BSA&MPAA&friends are saying, ain’t the same thing
;)[/quote]
any act[s] of obtaining copyrighted material for free *is* piracy..as defined by law and EULA…..in almost every country…..altho,enforced differently…..
[quote comment="317951"]I have lots of fileshared music and movies, none of it pirated however….LMAO[/quote]
oh really,mind to list them here so that we can “share” them ?
and if u all read my post carefully,u’ll see that i never mention any thing about pirating music,due to the fact that most of them are just noise….in fact,i think i deserved to b compensated every time i’m exposed to musics i dont like every time i’m out there in the mall,cafe,cineme,…etc…
and i’m honestly surprised there’s actually some1[individual,not bizneses] out there that would buy something that’s available for free. would u pay for air when u can get it for free ? all i kno is that ppl pay for air only when they couldnt get it for free like under water/on moon(paid by nasa)/burning building(by fire department) or stuff like that.
oh,btw,how many of u have downloaded the leaked version of manhunt 2,and intend to buy the official censored version ?
i have always been and a strong supporter of R*,but not strong enough save enough $$$ to buy a legit copy,…..hmmm
[quote comment="317922"]@7,11
manhunt 2 is finally coming out in the uk and with all the controversy surrounding it will assure that it will no doubt do very well for a game that is apparently pretty poor and was designed for a last generation console. That is the value of exposure. “all news is good news” and that idea applies to piracy not just crappy celebrities.
[/quote]
…and despite what Binsy said,manhunt 2 is a great game(for almost a month)and there’s still at least a year or two of glory in good old ps2,until granturismo6 came out.
gt5 will most likely ended-up like gt1 and gt3,over rushed and under developed,premature-ly realeased……until gt6 came out,i wont buy ps3,…
Here’s a thought. It may have been covered I only skimmed the responses. The record/film industry could always use us pirates as their screener audience. No doubt about it that word of mouth advertising is the best you can buy, and I know half of us have a blog with about 200+ MySpace or FaceBook friends that will read it and take it to heart. And if they’re too worried about giving away the full product, DON’T! Look, I buy most of the stuff that I download. The only real requirement being that it’s affordable and worth my hard earned dollar. So, cut some of the songs in half, I’m OK with that. Give me a movie with a timestamp on it, I’m all for it. It’s not like it’s going to look great on my high def TV anyway. And if I/we don’t buy it, and you don’t make a profit. Here’s a clue, STOP MAKING THE SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND GIVE US SOMETHING WORTH BUYING! Needless to say, I’m bitter towards the entertainment industry. I’m tired of being treated like a criminal while they stick their grubby hands in my pockets. RAID ON MATES!!
Best example I can think of is Photoshop. With a retail of $650-$1000, few “regular” computer users would have it installed, and yet “photoshopping” something has become a part of both the internet and non-internet vernacular. Obviously having their product associated with the very act of image editing is good publicity, doubt anyone goes to purchase their competing software without at least first considering adobe’s offering…
The Only Reason Windows Is Still exists on My PC = Pirates
The Only Reason My Friends Use Windows = Pirates
Our School Uses Pirated XP ..
Again , Thanx to Pirates.
[quote comment="318060"]Best example I can think of is Photoshop. With a retail of $650-$1000, few “regular” computer users would have it installed, and yet “photoshopping” something has become a part of both the internet and non-internet vernacular. Obviously having their product associated with the very act of image editing is good publicity, doubt anyone goes to purchase their competing software without at least first considering adobe’s offering…[/quote]
Same Here.. Who Will Buy It for $1000+ ?
This is actually Microsofts strategy, they just can’t go out in public with it…
anyone noticed that its symptomatic how on most such articles on torrentfreak you have few spammers who spam the comments with: “i am pirate, i can get it for free, fuck artist, fuck all, i will never buy it”… who can that be?
#23,#33, thank you for your well put thoughts.
almost nothing to add, except one thing, but only because that is strictly my example, and its bothering me last few months. new pink floy box-set has come out. and also wanted to add to that “Pulse”. it costs about third of my month paycheck.
couldnt care less, i am “die for” fan, and its worth that money for me. but what is the problem, i have 30+ GB of pink floyd stuff on my computer and burned dvd’s. if i give all that money because im a fan, will that money be used to hunt me down and sue me?
All pirates are good, copyright and intellectual property are evil..
hetfield (metallica) and flea(chilli peppers) are two musicians who have lost my respect.
piracy is not committed solely by people looking to fuck you over.
i have never sold a CD in my life.
and these cock smokers come out and say its stealin and have a moan and a bitch and a cry for themselves.
wipe your eyes on a million dollar towel ye cunts.
i have went to every irish gig they had since 1990,and if i want to download ‘http://thepiratebay.org/search/rhcp%20live%20slane/0/99/0′ this for instance, i will.
*yawn* Ask any intelligent file sharer and they would have told these people the exact same thing a long, long time ago. Keep up academia, you’re falling behind.
Heres my favourite quote from the last month: some wise words from Matt Mason…
“Thomas Edison invented the phongraphic record player, musicians branded him a pirate out to steal their work and destroy the live music business - until a system was established so everyone could be paid royalties, and the record industry was born. Edison, in turn, went on to film making and demanded a licensing fee from those making movies with his technology. This caused a band of film making pirates, including a man named William, to flee New York for the then still Wild West; where they thrived unlicensed, until Edison’s patents expired. These pirates continue to operate there, albeit legally now, in the town they founded: Hollywood.
William’s last name? Fox.”
ohh the irony…
What the woman is saying is that unless you could get it for free, you wouldn’t have gotten it, but since you’re able to get it for free, you get it.
Then you try it, and recommend it to someone else, and somewhere in there, someone pays for it. They make money on that. That’s what they meant.
I am a good pirate. If I couldn’t download things for free, I would use nothing instead.
The fact is that video games are fun and software is useful but not so much that I would ever dip into my money reserves to purchase it.
How do pirates help companies?
By being the victims of lawsuits so the record companies can sue the hell out of pirates to make up for low album sales.
…so back in 1999, I bought a hardback copy of ‘The Phantom Menace’ novel from my local bookstore (prior to the movies release).
I then took a friend to see the movie in my local cinema.
Then I bought loads of the official toys, posters and books that came out.
People asked me what I thought of the movie and based on my review they saw the movie.
The VHS tapes were releases (in widescreen and pan & scan) so I bought a copy of each.
I even bought it on VCD (import).
The movie was not released on laserdisc so I bought it on DVD.
I also supported the movie by buying many products with its name attached (Pepsi, etc).
Also bought games for PSX, N-64 & PC.
Taking all that in to account…IF I had watched a ‘pirate’ copy of the movie prior to it’s UK release, how would I have ‘damaged’ the film industry? How EXACTLY would I have swindled Mr Lucas?
And that’s just one example…don’t get me started on Highlander…
Well, I think this approach to the situation is right, however, i must admit that this is not the only truthfull explonation of piracy. I download series from the internet via bittorrent just because of I have got no possibility to buy it on DVD in English (I live in Russia). Moreover, almost every disk in our stores is illegal and costs from 35 to 100 rubles (that is from 1.4$ to 4$) no mater what the content is and whether it is CD or DVD. Frankly, I have forgotten the last time I bought a CD or DVD in store.
ALOT of use pirates just don’t have the money to buy anything we download.
So there was never any money to be earned by the people who made the material.
Also, the music industry is helped the most by piracy. Especially the up and coming bands. The internet has allowed for people to share a bands music all over the world. Giving it tons of media exposure. Which leads to more sales and more chances of doing concerts. Which is where most of a bands money comes from.
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