2000600056
Junseok Kang
Is internet piracy evil?
I love watching movies in cinema. Couple of weeks ago, I watched Ironman 3 in the cinema. Before it is officially released, I easily found the pirate version of it on the internet. Many people have already downloaded it. It seems that reasonable that contents creators blame the piracy as a biggest factor of reducing their income. And it has become one of the issues since the beginning of the internet history. However, I have a different opinion on this issue. I think piracy is not evil in entertainment business.
First, according to Swiss government's research, internet downloaders don't necessary mean that they don't purchase any contents. Its research shows that downloaders spent reasonable amount of money for their entertainment in buying concert ticket or going to theater. After Swiss court judged piracy is not illegal in their territory. Even considering the fact that its research only focus in domestic economy and rules out foreign companys' contents, it shows that piracy can boost entertainment business. It means that internet is able to lead new trend, which can bring the attention and financial benefits to contents creator. And piracy is just one small part of shadow among internet's numerous merits.
Second, I strongly think that business should adopt to transition of its environment. Few years ago when mp3 player appeared I read the article about one singer's sigh for his reduced music CD sales volume. He blamed the internet piracy. Then I thought why people want to buy CD anymore, because mp3 player is way small and comfortable. So he should launch selling his music online. As core attribute of internet and customer, downloading is inevitable. Customer wants to get what they want in easiest and cheapest way. Also internet is the one of easiest way to make it happen. If these factors are unchangeable, why the business change themselves to adopt? Like I mentioned before, the domestic entertainment market doesn't shrink due to piracy. Now only export of contents matters. I think there is numerous ways to solve this problem. Let's assume that Iron man 3 movie distributor want to contract with Korean distributor. In this situation, I think they can estimate the loss caused by piracy beforehand. So creator can ask an extra charge or different option for their product. Or like netflix which is successful movie and TV show distributor in U.S. Production company can launch their own franchise for online service.
Internet piracy is not desirable. But it has its own bright sight and it is inevitable. Whenever an invention happens, a good few of past died. I think internet has become one of the biggest changes in production business. And if they don't adopt new environment and technology they will lose.
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