Pirates Killed the Movie Star

Photo from cyber-knowledge.net

In his ongoing essay The Death of the Blockbuster Chris Anderson relates the decline in hit record sales and blockbuster movie attendance to a society wide change in preferences. According to his Long Tail Theory, because virtual stores offer expansive catalogues, ratings and suggestions, the mainstream market has been pulled apart and away as customer interests mature or are led off the beaten path You know what else really allows people to explore new interests? When they are available for free! Personally, even in our days of RIAA hate, I still believe that piracy should shoulder the blame for the majority of decreased sales.

Consider the stats that Chris Anderson showed off in his articles:

Both film and music sales show a decline starting at the beginning of the 21^st century. So did the new millennium have us all develop new distinguished interests? No, we just stole them from our friends! Napster was created in 1999 and only existed for two years, but it was the file-sharing figurehead (ignoring IRC etc) that launched a revolution of how we collected media. Peer-to-peer file-sharing, and more recently rampant online streaming and torrent downloads, are saving customers a trip to the movie theatre, not a varied palate. Do we really believe that millions of dollars were lost because suddenly people decided they would rather watch documentaries than The Dark Knight? No, it’s because The Dark Knight was instantly ripped onto the internet for everyone to watch for free. Granted, downloading music and movies has never made trying new things so fun and exciting, but most thieving usually is pretty thrilling. Cheap music is better than expensive music, but free is better than not free as long as you don’t get a virus.

It is up to the entertainment industry to either stem the illegal distribution of music/film/television, or else legitimize it. Apple modifying their online pricing strategy and dropping DRM software is a good start, and HBO releasing their shows online is as well (even if they aren't available in Canada yet). Pirates are only doing what big corporations have dropped the ball on: making their products accessible. With a medium like the internet which has combined just about every major communication invention of the last century, such an evolution only seems natural.