The Cost of Movie Piracy to the U.S
Written by Ernesto on October 09, 2006A recent study by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) reveals that Movie Piracy not only has a direct impact on the movie business, but that is also affect the US economy on a larger scale.
The research is based on the outcome of the MPAA funded LEK study that revealed that the movie industry lost $1.3 billion in the US, and $6.1 billion worlwide.
Based on these figures, the IPI concludes that Movies Pirates (online and offline) are responsible for:
However, the research does not report about the benefits of movie Piracy to the US economy. Especially online piracy is creating a lot of jobs and tax revenue. Pirates pay for broadband connections, buy harddisks and blank media etcetera. However, perhaps even more important, a recent study show that online piracy is a valuable source of innovation to the industries, as well as to entrepreneurs. Online pirates tend to be early adopters and they actually aid to the emergence of new and innovative business models.
Perhaps the MPAA should put more effort in developing new and innovative (p2p!) ways to distribute Motion Pictures over the web.
Previously: The Pirates Are Out To Get You
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45 Responses
How do they know that Movies Pirates are the cause of their lost? How on earth were they ablet to measure that? Maybe they just did bad business or maybe they produced many bad quality video’s. I mean: there’s a lot lame Hollywood stuff I don’t like watching.
And.
I am not buying DVD’s because I got sick of those Stichting BREIN warnings at the beginning of the DVD while my daughter is yelling ‘play track 13′ to me and I am waiting for the menu to appear. I rather DVD Shrink that thing on my harddrive and give away the DVD to someone else! DVD is just a very restricted format which I don’t like at all.
Those #s are just like all the MPAA reports lol… Scare your consumers into not filesharing I guess lol
For me piracy is free. Did someone pay for it? Costs?
;)
Well, measured in € (EUR):
€ 32.95 a month for my internet connection
about a € 20.00 a month on blank media
Many GBs a month
then my computer(s) and stuff …
Piracy is an expensive hobby!
£19.99 a month for unlimited bandwidth broardband
£0 for hard drive taken out of my uncles old computer along with my own one
Cheap enough to me :D
You forgot:
Screwing the MPAA nazis: Priceless.
complete bullshit….I use torrents to leech tv-series that are not showing in my country and the ones that will maybe never be showed here in Latvia….so the same goes for movies…and considering the load of crap hollywood is producing these days I belewe that watching a movie at home before spending my money on crap is a normal choice
“LEK study”
wasn’t that this GIGO piece that the british industy discredited as inaccurate and false?!
http://neuron2neuron.blogspot.com/2006/06/uk-copyright-lobby-discredits-mpaa.html
Apparently they are talking about profits not realized. Unfortunately, no metric or methodology can possibly attribute the cost of potential profits lost due to piracy. First of all, let’s realize what is being said by this. They are losing 5 billion dollars to piracy because someone downloaded a movie and watched it without paying. How about someone walking by the movie theatre and not going to see that movie. They still didn’t see the movie, and yet, they didn’t pay to see it either. Therefore, whether you see the movie or not without paying for it is irrelevant. It has to be assumed you never did see the movie, so therefore you cannot attribute a loss to something that was never realized to an intangible product which is what a movie is. It’s photons of light that are arranged in a particular way across a series of fast moving frames that you are paying to see.
If they want to use a metric to explain their loss, then assume that everyone in the world is a potential customer for their product and deduct you losses based on how many of those people never saw your movie. That would at least be more fair. If I stole a candy bar, then you can do a proper assessment about the lose of that piece of inventory that is stored somewhere that someone has made and already paid for and tried to sell to me and instead stole. You can measure that, but you can’t measure loss by who stole a movie as opposed to who never saw your movie and call that a loss. Just stupid.
I wonder how they could explain why the economy’s better now than it has been for 20 years…When Tom Cruise sells 17 of his private jets, I’ll agree that the entertainment industry is going south.
Whether you justify downloading movies to yourself or not – you are still a thief.
If it’s copyrighted and you have a copy that you didn’t pay for – you are a thief.
I may be a thief, but, I wouldn’t have gone to theater to see any of the movies I have DL’d anyways and odds of a rental are still pretty slim-to-none, however, I recommend movies to friends all the time who don’t want to wait for a copy from me or don’t have the know-how to get it themselves who then go to the theatre or rent a movie they otherwise wouldn’t have seen. I get one for free and they get a customer they wouldn’t have ordinarily had, fair trade in my opinion.
“If it’s copyrighted and you have a copy that you didn’t pay for – you are a thief”
OMG then for example millions of linux users are thiefs…. and “Steve” is either a mouthpiece for the MAFIAA or just a brainwashed moron!
“Steve”, If you really believe what you are telling us then you are incompetent. If on the other hand you are just pretending to believe it, then we must regard you as a liar.
Have a nice day and remember:
* WAR IS PEACE
* FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
* IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
* COPYRIGHTINFRINGEMENT IS STEALING
I’m a thief? I can’t count the number of times I’ve gone to see a movie in the theatre only to realize half way through it that I’m the one being RIPPED OFF!
I’d be willing the bet the estimated money lost from piracy doesn’t eclipse the money made from people who don’t think they got thier money worth. When the movie industry offers a money back guarantee, I’ll go see more movies.
For instance, over the past 2 years, I’ve probably seen 10 movies in the theatre – and of those 10, at least 8 were not even worth my TIME, and certainly not the money. That’s a 20% (at best!) customer satisfaction. No other industry can even survive with that kind of record.
A study I did found that the RIAA and MPAA cost me a combined $99999999999999999999999999999999999 last year, that I *would* have made if I hadn’t spent my time using their products.
Where can I send them the bill?
How can I get the government to collect the money they obviously owe me?
Brad Said: I’d be willing the bet the estimated money lost from piracy doesn’t eclipse the money made from people who don’t think they got thier money worth. When the movie industry offers a money back guarantee, I’ll go see more movies.
EXACTLY. Half the movies I download suck and I dont even watch the first half. Or I find some movies I enjoy and either go see it again in the theater, recommend it to friends, or get the DVD when it comes out. Either way I end up supporting the movies that dont suck. Not my fault half the stuff coming out these days is garbage.
Quote:
Blert Wheedown on Oct 9th, 2006 said: |Quote|
You forgot:
Screwing the MPAA nazis: Priceless.
The methodology of this piracy-related study sounds a bit like a similar one conducted by Microsoft. Microsoft simply estimated the number of new PC’s sold over a period of time worldwide, subtracted the number of Windows licences sold over the same period of time and reported the difference as piracy which generated an astronomical amount for piracy. The problem with this calculation is that there are lots of legitimate non-Windows computers including those running Linux that are counted as being pirates.
These figures look as though it is calculated based on the number of videos and DVD’s potentially played per month based on the amount of devices sold and subracting the amount of sales / rentals for DVD’s and videos. What they probably ignore is the amount of homve videos, instructional videos, taped TV-shows etc that are being viewed.
If someone buys illegal copies of 20 DVD’s in the far east, can you really make the assumption that the same person would have purchased movie tickets for the same 20 titles were the pirated copies not available? Can you assume that the same person would have rented the same 20 titles? Ditto for online downloads – how many people really sit in front of a computer and watch a movie? How many people successfully manage to download a 1.5Gb Hollywood release as a torrent?
These stats are flawed, but they do produce the telepone numbers necessary to spark a vision of gloom with the lawmakers that will spur a new generation of copyright and anti-piracy legislation.
I’ve seen figures like this before… and they all make the same invalid assumptions.
1) Every download = one lost sale.
2) Every share = X lost sales.
3) Every lost sale = full MSRP.
None of these are even close to being true.
Here are my assumptions:
1) 78% of statistics are made up on the spot.
2) 65% of everything is crap.
Have a nice day.
The fact that their losing so much money should be a pretty clear indicator that their business model is freakin’ BROKEN.
what people pay for movies? lol paying is to simple fro teh 1337s
Those figures are a bunch of crap. I like many of you download shows that I couldn’t watch otherwise, and the movies I download is because I’m most definitly not going to browse around and rent or buy something before I know what I want. I also recommend to tons of friends, and relatives the best movies out. Plus I still go to the cinema just as much as I did before I could download movies, which is on dates or with friends. I for one believe the loses they are experiencing have more to do with quality rather then people downloading movies.
Don’t forget about all the backups I have to do incase my pirated movie drive crashes – I dont want to have to re-download everything i’ve been downloading for the last 10 years!
The reason the hollywood movie industry is in crisis is that the vast majority of movies it produces are unimaginative, derivative, formulaic, poorly executed SHIT!!
Piracy may cost the movie industry a huge amount, but think how it advances Western culture. Heck, given that most of the world either fears or hates the United States (and to a lesser degree Europe), and abhors the consumer culture that it supports, why would you want to restrict the one part of Western culture that the rest of the World can’t seem to get enough of. Ultimately, if they watch enough of the purile crap that constitutes most of American television and movies, we will succeed in making everyone in the world pick up dinner at Micky-Ds in their minivans while driving the kids to soccer practice.
The movie industry should just shut up and think about how many future consumers they are making by giving away their stuff for free now. Sort of like what Microsoft did with low-ball prices for Windows and Office, or drug pushers with meth or crack. They should take the long view and quit whining.
You should have looked into who the IPI is.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_for_Policy_Innovation
these are the people who brought us medicare reform and want to bring us social security privatization. In that context I want to know who paid for this study, I’m guessing they didn’t do it out of the kindness of their heart.
[quote comment="14750"]Whether you justify downloading movies to yourself or not – you are still a thief.
If it’s copyrighted and you have a copy that you didn’t pay for – you are a thief.[/quote]
A thief of what? At least if I bought something and I didn’t like it, I could take it back. What option do I have if I spend money to see an intangible product called a movie and I didn’t like it, who do I return that product to and who do I get my money back from?
The Numbers are Assumptions.
And we all know how that goes. – They are making an ass of them sleves.
This is just bullshit, they just need to get themselves a better hobby. :-P
I dont think they take a loss from piracy… I dont know about you but 90% of the stuff I download I would never consider buying.
Steve I have something for you & you don`t have to pay nor is it stealing! Open up your mouth & wait;-) P.S Close your eyes I heard it stings in the eyes!
If Hoolywood stops producing crap maybe intelligent people will decide to go see a movie in the multiplexes. There are great movies made and most of them are not Hoolywood films. I’d like to be entertained not be treated like an idiot for 90 minutes. I think people are fed up with dumb movies made up by juvenile think tanks who thinks Tom Cruise can act and J-Lo doesn’t have a deformed ass.
“Especially online piracy is creating a lot of jobs and tax revenue. Pirates pay for broadband connections, buy harddisks and blank media etcetera.”
What, are you stupid??
That hardware/media doesn’t create many, if ANY, jobs here in America or abroad. The only benefit it has is to the chinese that make them…actually, the owners of the factories that the chinese make them at, who may be based in the US, but number less than a quarter of 1 percent of the population.
Yay, so glad for them!
They don’t lose a penny. They assume that just because people download it free, that those same people would spend a penny to buy it in the first place. People who assume things are usually very stupid. Thus the MPAA is very stupid.
Real losses are incurred when they over-pay no talents like Tom Cruise, Lucy Lui, that guy from Titantic, and the likes of them. Real businesses would look for alternatives to cut cost, like new faces. But the movie industry is stupid enough to constantly use no talents at a hefty price.
Also, losses come in the form of over-paid unions. Yes, I know, you people think unions are good for America. They use to be when workers’ safety in coal mines was not even heard of. Now a days, unions are just leeches and extortionists. They demand high pay for low IQ work. Jobs any moron can easy replace should be paid accordingly.
Enough said. I can go one forever where the movie industry is losing money, but America has come so intrenched with government subsidies and union extortions, anything else said would be a waste of time.
i think a huge point is that the losses due to movie piracy is far less than the billions upon billions spent continually on a pointless war. gotta get the priorities straight. the economy wont fall apart over people downloading movies but it could over a trillion dollar war.
So basically anyone who decides that some gay movie isnt worth the $10 that it costs to go and see a movie has instantly become a “pirate” and therefore are responsible for these “BILLIONS” lost. SCREW THEM!!!!! most people that download movies still go and see a movie in theaters or will rent/buy the movie when it comes out on DVD so the only thing that they have to blame for the loss is the lack of good movies that are entertaining enough to be worth $10. As was said before, spending that money at the theater is like putting it into the lottery, if its a good movie then you win and you were entertained for the 90 minutes it lasted but if it sucked, as it does most times, then you lost and there is no way to get your money back. So yeah go ahead and call me a thief but i’m not gonna give them money for a product that didnt entertain me at all!!
How about the amount of money the assholes in the movies are getting paid!!! Who the hell deserves $10-$20 million for a job they work on for 3 months. If these people didnt demand this outrageous amount of money a person wouldnt have to waste $20 for two hours of mind numbing garbage…What is the last really great movie you’ve seen? 80% of the movies i see ads for are either new renditions of old movies or the same stories with different actors. Not to mention 90% of these “celebrities” are nothing but a bunch of losers the masses live vicariously through. I say screw “Hollywood” by whatever means possible, they’ve ripped us off for years, just like the record executives who promote shitty music that no one remembers 3 months later. Once they start losing money maybe they will start promoting something worth while.
the impact of dvd to the people of dvd is that were not helping the economy,were just helping those people who want to distroyed the economic. Yeah,it can buy in the low cost but then the Quality of it are not that good.If we compared it to the Original one Will see the difference of it.
Well we cannot pleased everybody to encourage to stop buying pirated because our life now are getting poor.And te original dvd’s are so expensive.
Thank you.
I’d just like to say that every single post that I’ve read in response to this article has been horribly “supported,” if you could even call it that. Stop trying to justify yourselves. You all steal because you’re too cheap to pay for entertainment. If you went to see the movie in the theaters or bought the DVD afterwards, that’s really no argument. The movie industry is a BUSINESS, and a BUSINESS cannot operate when people like you keep taking what they produce whenever you feel like it. If you want movie quality to decline, keep doing what you’re doing. And for everyone who claims all Hollywood produces is “crap” these days, why are you downloading movies? Anyway, there’s nothing I can say that is stronger than the fact that a law will be passed soon that will force you all to dig into your pockets and pay for what you want. That’s how the real world works.
“OMG then for example millions of linux users are thiefs…. and “Steve” is either a mouthpiece for the MAFIAA or just a brainwashed moron!”
Obviously not , since linux is provided for free by its creators! Be carefyl before using insults ( they tend to become boomerang sometimes ) .oh and remember
infirngement is not stealing it is free distribution of information(bu hahahaha ).
ernesto said :
the research does not report about the benefits of movie Piracy to the US economy. Especially online piracy is creating a lot of jobs and tax revenue. Pirates pay for broadband connections, buy harddisks and blank media etcetera
well ernesto , if you decide to go and rob a bank you’ll help the economy considerably .You’ll have to buy a weapon , bullets , tights to cover your face , gas for the car you’ll use to get out ( you’ll also have to pay for a checkup just to make sure it’ll work ), rent a safety deposit to keep the money etc etc etcetera. Does that mean you shoud rob the bank ?
Not to mention that users would still need hard disks and dvd’s if they legitimately downloaded films .
mike said:
I may be a thief, but, I wouldn’t have gone to theater to see any of the movies I have DL’d anyways and odds of a rental are still pretty slim-to-none, however, I recommend movies to friends all the time who don’t want to wait for a copy from me or don’t have the know-how to get it themselves who then go to the theatre or rent a movie they otherwise wouldn’t have seen. I get one for free and they get a customer they wouldn’t have ordinarily had, fair trade in my opinion.
lamest excuse ever , sorry mike
you’re pretty much telling us that u act as a self – apointed advertiser , without asking anyone!!! GO ask for a job as a film critic if you’re up to it , then you’; watch everything for free and influence much ,more people than your friends
And you can do it legally !
Or Like if a steal a car , give it a test drive and then go tell my friends – go buy that car it’s really great- that means i’m not a thief , no , not at all!!!!!!
brad said:
‘m a thief? I can’t count the number of times I’ve gone to see a movie in the theatre only to realize half way through it that I’m the one being RIPPED OFF!
I’d be willing the bet the estimated money lost from piracy doesn’t eclipse the money made from people who don’t think they got thier money worth. When the movie industry offers a money back guarantee, I’ll go see more movies
i understand your frustration brad but that is not an excuse for stealing.There are ways to make sure that the movie you’ll see wont be crap . Read and listen many critics ( and decide whose taste and honesty you prefer ) and be patient , the almighty word of mouth is always the best indication .Avoid opening weeks , choose carefully , don’t be fooled by star power or promos.I can safelly say that thanks to those rules , 90% of what i watch is surely above average .
vegas vic said:
A study I did found that the RIAA and MPAA cost me a combined $99999999999999999999999999999999999 last year, that I *would* have made if I hadn’t spent my time using their products.
Where can I send them the bill?
How can I get the government to collect the money they obviously owe me?
well , no one owes you cause nobody forced you to use their products .If you feel you’re being ripped off , then STOP WATCHING MOVIES!!! get a hobby , work out , play with your friends or travel , read books or write one!
Dizl said:
alf the movies I download suck and I dont even watch the first half. Or I find some movies I enjoy and either go see it again in the theater, recommend it to friends, or get the DVD when it comes out.
Well you are obviously the excemption because i feel that most people that enjoy a pirated movie will rarelly go see it AGAIN in a theater ( or even more rent a legal DVD).They will simlpy watch again the illegal copy!!!!!!
vic
The reason the hollywood movie industry is in crisis is that the vast majority of movies it produces are unimaginative, derivative, formulaic, poorly executed SHIT!!
No objection but that aint no excuse either!We always tend to glorify the past , the truth is that throught decades , the vast majority of movies and films is below mediocre . We just forget all the crap of the past and only remember the stuff that that deserves to be remembered .That doesn;t mean that past crap never existed!!!
Christofer
The movie industry should just shut up and think about how many future consumers they are making by giving away their stuff for free now.
obviously none if those new clients become illegal downloaders too !!!!the comparison to drugs is so unfortunate!!!!!
asmodeus said:
A thief of what? At least if I bought something and I didn’t like it, I could take it back. What option do I have if I spend money to see an intangible product called a movie and I didn’t like it, who do I return that product to and who do I get my money back from?
well that risk goes with the nature of movie watching! If you’re not willing to take it , DON’T WATCH MOVIES .It’s not like your life depends on it !!!!!Would it be possible to ask for a refund AFTER watching a movie? you’ve already consumed the product 100% .Its like going to a restaurant , eat everything you’ve ordered ad then refuse to pay beacause you claim the food was shitty! Choose the movies you watch carefully and you won’t have to feel ripped off!
brad said:
Steve I have something for you & you don`t have to pay nor is it stealing! Open up your mouth & wait;-) P.S Close your eyes I heard it stings in the eyes!
Brad you are an asshole!!!! No need to reply , iknow you thank me and love me too
rittap
€ 32.95 a month for my internet connection
about a € 20.00 a month on blank media
ritta you are obviously european .
So am i .You pay for an internet connection ( + phone ) NOT for an means to steal .You still nees the connection for a ton of things , like making calls , surfing , or legitimatelly downloading!!!ANnd if you spend 20 on blank media but steal 100 from piracy then you still are a thief ( of 80 bucks if you may )
ryan 39 : well said man!!
sorry for the poor english!not my mother language
I’ve seen many cute excuses from thieves ( mostly in movies ) but the ones in here are really something .
jojo = nazi sympathizer
its fucking pathetic – this so called “copyright infrigement” is basically, what, copyright infrigement on a series of 0s and 1s … thats what it comes down to. All they are selling you anyway, is a series of pits on a disk…
It is obvious cowards have found a way to “fight back” while sitting safely in the basement of their parent’s home. The moment these petty theives start getting punished they will quickly back down. Notice none of these dorks are fighting outrageous gas prices by stealing at the pump. These are the same dorks that I beat up in school.
I wish they would use another word than stealing.
If any of you can “STEAL” my car in a way that I can still keep my car then Please, be my guest. Duplicate my car.
When I buy a Xbox 360 game I dont own the game, im not allowed to make a copy and all that. But I am however licensed to play that game. So I buy the right to play it.
If the media breaks then hardly no manufacturer will give me a new disc for the cost of manufacturing+shipping.
I’ll have to buy the right to play it once again. Why? I have the right to play it, but the carrying media is broken.
Its a good thing my bank doesnt say the same if my Visa breaks. “Sorry what used to be your money is now our profit”.
And the way people get fines way bigger than they can ever repay – whats that about? “I could have gotten 75billion, but only got 74.5billon”, so now I will ruin your life and the future life of your kids.
I see human life has a price, and its cheap.
And then come out talking about stealing…
That being said, noone should ever profit from other peoples work!
For the slow ones of you Profit means EARNING money, making a livelyhood or whatever. And no – You dont profit from watching a movie.
The Americans seem to blame everybody for their problems except themselves. Its their banks and financial instutions that have led them into a mess not donwloaders. New media promises much but old media refuses to die. Do what I do boycott big media and only support small and independant
artists who give their work. Lets see
how those avaricious billionaire artists and RIAA like that.
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