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by Alan Baxter

22 Feb 06:00am

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Filed under: Books, Digital Media, Digital Rights Management, Downloading, Piracy

73 comments

Digital Rights Management doesn’t work. DRM is a method of locking digital media so it can’t be shared. Except it fails. For every form of DRM employed, pirates instantly break it.

The author would prefer you bought this, but he knows that if you borrow it from a friend, you might just buy the next one yourself

DRM only inconveniences honest, paying customers. For example, in the case of eBooks, a person might justifiably want to have their book on their PC and their tablet, but DRM can prevent that.

I regularly get Google Alerts about my books being mentioned online and many times it’s when they appear illegally on filesharing sites. For every download like that, it’s a drop of cash not going to keeping food on my table, right? Actually, probably not.

Most studies agree that the majority of illegal downloads are by people who wouldn’t buy the book anyway. So it’s not, in fact, a lost sale. It could generate a new fan and the person who stole my book might enjoy it so much they leave a review somewhere, or tell friends, generating new sales for me. As the old adage goes, channeling the even older quote from Oscar Wilde, the only thing worse than piracy is obscurity.

The truth is, for every writer, the main concern is reader awareness. The more people reading my work, the better. Sure, I’d love for every reader to pay for the book, but it’s not going to happen. It didn’t happened before digital books either. How many times have you enjoyed a book you borrowed from a friend? Or bought in a second hand store? The author saw not a penny of your enjoyment then.

But you probably told your friends about it. You might have reviewed it on Amazon or Goodreads. You might even like it so much you buy a new copy for someone as a gift. All of that is currency, in either cash or eyes, to the author, which would not have happened without the initial free copy.

So I accept piracy of the digital copies of my books as a part of the modern era. I try to embrace it, choose to focus on the positive aspects, like getting new readers to my work. DRM is absolutely not the answer to piracy.

In a recent US article by blogger and author Cory Doctorow, he uses one very clear and powerful example to highlight how ridiculous the DRM concept is, and how it damages the chances of work reaching a wider audience, through general exposure and reviews. He mentions films as another example.

I can confirm that through my work writing music reviews. There was a time when I would be sent CDs by distributors in the hope I’d write them a review. Now we rarely get a CD, but a link to a protected site where we can download the MP3s instead. I don’t mind - I still get to keep the album as payment. Often, as my only payment.

Then some labels started watermarking the downloads. If I shared it, and that share went public, they’d know it was me. Very distrustful of my professional integrity and insulting, but I still get the album.

Then some labels would only allow us to listen to a stream. We can’t have the album, only listen to it and review it, for nothing. Well, no review for you! Another, worse, version is the beeped download. You get the whole album to keep, but a copy where every 30 seconds or so, the track pauses and a loud BEEP happens.

That not only insults my professional integrity, but the band too. The label is saying they don’t trust me not to share the album and they care so little for their band’s music they’ll BEEP all over it like monkeys throwing crap over their keepers. How can I understand the band’s vision with that happening? The net result, once again, is that I won’t review it.

The ultimate loser is the band, who get less signal-boost for their new album than they would have. Just like my own fiction gets less signal boost without the pirate copies out there. Just like the authors in the article by Doctorow, or the film-makers he mentions. Meanwhile, pirates still rip the music or strip the DRM from the book and carry on as usual.

How long is it going to take these morons to realise that? The only way piracy will be marginalised as much as possible is for producers of digital content to make access to that content as easy and ubiquitous as the pirates do.

Couple that with a competitive price point, not a stupidly high one, and piracy will become a far smaller slice of the digital pie and everyone will benefit. Except the pirates.

Twitter: @AlanBaxter

Alan’s website can be found here

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73 comments

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- Sarah says:
  
  02:44pm | 11/07/12
  
  Holy cow, $0.89 AND DRM-free? Buh-bye market share to iTunes! That’s an anziamg rate, and even iTunes lacks in selection, so I suppose it’s just a matter of time before Amazon hits critical mass with this . . .
  
  Reply
- Ahmad says:
  
  10:21am | 09/07/12
  
  Another great step in the right direction. The files are encoedd with the LAME encoder (which is great). The files are watermarked, but only to identify that they have been downloaded from Amazon, not with personal information. I was a bit disappointed with the selection, but I’ve never shopped I-tunes so I can’t really compare. As Scott already said, good price, DRM free, and competition for I-tunes. Go Amazon!
  
  Reply
- Dartigen says:
  
  11:49pm | 22/02/12
  
  Actually, stopping piracy is easy.
  Let me tell you about what frustrates me the most trying to buy a book, movie, TV show or song online:
  ‘Sorry, this download is not available in your country.’
  
  I thought digital distribution was supposed to mean that anyone, anywhere could enjoy something. I thought it was supposed to save companies money on marketing a film or album in a country with only a small group of fans. I thought that I was going to be able to buy French pop music and Japanese rock music from Australia because it wouldn’t matter if I was the only Alizee fan in the country.
  
  Well, I was wrong.
  So yes, I pirate music, because I’m not going to fly overseas to buy CDs. I’m not going to fly all the way to Europe or America to buy a DVD or a book. That’s just stupid.
  
  And in the case of movies - I am sick and tired of having to tell my friends in the US and UK ‘don’t tell me about X movie it’s not out here yet’. Or burning up with jealousy when they tell me that they already have the season DVD of a TV show. You know The Walking Dead is on its second season in the US now? We’re a WHOLE SEASON behind. For no reason.
  And of course, viewership will be low and the show will get dropped because anyone who was interested downloaded it and watched it LAST YEAR.
  Get with the times. People talk. The Internet destroyed geographic boundaries to talking about films, books and TV shows. People are sick and tired of being forced to wait because of where they live. If they can’t have it now, they’ll download it, because who knows if it’s ever going to come out here anyway?
  
  (The only time I can understand restricting access to media online is if a country has banned it; in which case piracy from China, North Korea and other highly-restrictive countries should be disregarded as it is not worth the trouble to try to make it legitimately available anyway.
  
  Some piracy is inevitable, but if companies would apply a little logical thinking and ask consumers why they pirate instead of making assumptions then they might be able to reduce the scale of piracy. I am not the first person to point out that the issue is distribution, nor will I be the last; in fact, the distribution issue has been more or less talked to death over the last DECADE. It isn’t news. Companies just don’t want to wake up and smell the coffee; and unless they do, they will inevitably be left behind by smarter competitors who know that distribution is the key.
  
  Valve sold videogames in the piracy capital of the world not by forcing DRM on consumers, but by sitting down with their customers and finding out where the problem lay - in Russia’s case, bad localisation. Valve solved the problem, and made Steam available in Russia five years ago. Sales have never been better. Why? Because they asked questions instead of jumping to conclusions.
  Stephen King said it best: assume makes an ass out of you and me.)
  
  Reply
- James says:
  
  06:20pm | 22/02/12
  
  I wrote a comic book once, about 15 years ago; I sold 150 copies on the first issue and about 80 copies of the second, sales figures never got above 80 so after 7 issues I stopped. But all these comics are STILL available on the Internet for $1 an issue.
  It was very quickly pirated and put onto file sharing sites (even 15 years ago on the web we had these problems).
  
  So why am I so upset? - because in the last 15 years I have received nearly 1500 positive comments about the comic (2 a week). Industry experts believe that only 0.2% of readers that enjoyed the productg actually send in a comment - so if you use their reasoning then that is 100 illegal downloads each week. Yet my sales are 5-10 A YEAR!!!!!
  
  If just 10% of downloaders bought my comic I would start it up again - but they don’t, so I don’t and then they ask me why?!?
  
  Reply
Brian says:

11:43am | 23/02/12

And those programs only work for those who don’t really want to try hard. It doesn’t take much effort with screenshot and MSPaint to get around them
James says:

09:33pm | 22/02/12

I understand what you are saying St. Michael but the fact is the comic escaped 15 years ago - that’s when I found out it had been put onto piracy websites.
Once it’s in cyberspace you can’t get it back.
St. Michael says:

08:58pm | 22/02/12

Thought about doing it solely via website? As in, you only post on a pay-per-view basis or something like that? No actual downloadable pdf or document to print? From memory there are some programs out there that don’t allow a person to copy sections of a website using point and click…

No criticism intended - just curious whether you’ve explored that angle?
- The Captain Coach says:
  
  04:30pm | 22/02/12
  
  Books, manuscripts and music should be universally available and free of charge.
  Nobody needs money as money is poison
  
  Reply
- Utopia Boy says:
  
  04:19pm | 22/02/12
  
  Just a question - is it still free to borrow a book from the library?
  Where does that fit in?
  
  Reply
Laura-F says:

05:12am | 01/03/12

Authors are paid for having their books in libraries. It’s called Public Lending Rights.
- Ally says:
  
  03:42pm | 22/02/12
  
  Nice article. Looks like I’ve found another author to check out.
  
  Like many others here, I feel that the music/film/tv industries need to actually look at WHY people are downloading and adjust their business models. People want to be able to access content NOW for an affordable price that isn’t twice the price of what the same thing costs in another country. I want to be able to download my favourite tv shows as they air in the US or UK so that I’m not waiting months (if it even gets picked up here at all) for the dvd release or having to avoid all online commentary in case of spoilers.
  
  The way that the industry is going about stopping copyright infringement at the moment isn’t working. So why not address the issues and give people what they want? They can’t keep clinging to an outdated business model.
  
  Reply
- colroe says:
  
  12:15pm | 22/02/12
  
  For years, Australians have had to pay excessive charges for their CDs, films and books. I have no sympathy for the distributors who impose the high wholesale pricing, thereby forcing the small business owner to charge what they do. The Government must also share part of the blame for their tax import policies on these items. It is not always the customers fault. I agree, piracy is not good, but compare the price of a music cd, $30.. plus in the store, to a free copy from the internet!!! Also, anybody who has an interest in obscure or old music/books etc, can generally find what they want by searching the torrent sites. Try looking for something like this in your local KMart!!!
  
  Reply
- Sarah says:
  
  12:03pm | 22/02/12
  
  I’ll happily admit to downloading a pirate eBook of John Birmingham’s “Without Warning,” the first in his “After America” series.
  I wouldn’t have read it if I had had to pay for it - I can’t afford to buy a few $25 books a month just in case there’s a chance I might like them, and the library didn’t have this book.
  I loved the book.
  I then went and bought the next two books in the series, even though I could also download them. I then went and bought his “Axis of Time” series.
  By reading an author’s book as a free pirate copy, i got hooked on him and bought 5 more of his books. If I hadn’t read that first pirate book, instead having to shell out $25 to see if I liked it, I wouldn’t have bothered and JB would have lost FIVE sales.
  
  Reply
stephen says:

04:40pm | 22/02/12

You talk like someone I used to know.
Have we met ?
Brian says:

04:12pm | 22/02/12

Axis of Time was great, I admit… The thing is, while he has ‘won’ out of your piracy, it is entirely his right to shoot himself in the foot by insisting only on legal copies. For every one like you who then goes on to buy his books legally there’s probably about twenty who get them ALL illegally. All he needs is a couple of those who would have tried it and got hooked anyway…
- n_dude says:
  
  11:47am | 22/02/12
  
  Agree. Making music easy to access (across all devices) and reasonably priced would make it much more appealing to users. The current approach of the music industry is driving away customers and will hurt the independent and aspiring artists whilst protecting those who are already popular.
  
  Reply
- St. Michael says:
  
  11:27am | 22/02/12
  
  Note here that, as I indicated on the other thread on this subject, I think Alan Baxter (hi there! ) would appear to prove my point: he is an author publishing direct from his website, not through the Cthulhuesque mainstream publishing industry. Consequently he (I hope) doesn’t lose as big a fraction of his profits to the normal distribution machine, and he proves you don’t have to be anointed by a “major” publishing house in order to sell your stuff and turn a buck.
  
  He’s not trying to pump a commodity; he’s got a branded product. Note this quote from his site:
  
  “AUSTRALIA – Buy direct from me for the best price – AU$ 19.95, inc. Postage”
  
  Direct from me for the best price. Because that’s what a direct sale from an author allows. I’m no expert publisher, but weighing up his probable publishing costs and allowing a certain amount for his time and effort, that’s a pretty reasonable number, and (I’d hope) he keeps close to all of the profit.
  
  Good on him for working the Internet and thumbing his nose at the machine! He’s a model for where the Internet eventually will take publishing into the future, and long may it remain so.
  
  Reply
St. Michael says:

01:35pm | 22/02/12

Aha! Thanks for the correction. It’s still encouraging to see.
Alan Baxter says:

01:00pm | 22/02/12

Hi there. I’m afraid I have to correct you. I’m not “publishing direct” from my site. I have self-published, and some of my stuff is still self-published (Write The Fight Right and Ghost Of The Black). However, my novels, RealmShift and MageSign, are published by Gryphonwood Press, a US-based small publisher. Hardly in the realms of the Big Six, but still a form of traditional publishing. I took that deal as it gave greater exposure to my work through a wider audience, among other reasons.

You quoted this from my site:

“AUSTRALIA – Buy direct from me for the best price – AU$ 19.95, inc. Postage”

This is for the reader, not me. As Gryphonwood Press are in the US, and fairly small, they don’t have an Australian distribution network. (That’s actually changing very soon, but for the sake of argument, it’s still the case right now.) So I’ve made my books available to Australians direct from me in order to have them avoid the shipping costs and only pay (Australian) cover price. I really should remove that offer from my site, to be honest, for several reasons:

1. Readers can buy the books for half that now at Book Depository or Amazon and often pay no postage (I don’t pay postage either and Gryphonwood pay me my royalties);

2. Gryphonwood will soon have a way to distribute in Australia;

3. I’m almost out of author copies anyway.

It actually means I get less when I cop the postage rates domestically, but it was important for me to have my books available to Australian readers at a good price. The best price for them now is online.

So I’m not publishing direct from my site - I’m published by Gryphonwood Press but (for the moment) also selling direct from my site. I will probably always offer to sell copies directly, if people want a signed copy, for example, but it will only ever be a very small proportion of my sales.
- amy says:
  
  10:45am | 22/02/12
  
  DRM- making priacy a better option
  
  I dont pirate games, and I HATE piracy even if it is from asshole greedy publishers
  
  but the way to deal with the problems isnt to kick and scream and throw a tantrum and slap your customer in the face (Im looking at YOU ubisoft)
  
  Reply
- Alan Baxter says:
  
  10:38am | 22/02/12
  
  Thanks for the positive responses, all - I’m glad to see so many people getting this. As for what we can do to promote this way of thinking - always buy the DRM-free version of something if you can. Boycott DRM products as much as possible and make that boycott known to publishers (of books, games, music, etc.). Consumer power is always the strongest in the long run. And agitate for the publishers of any digital content to make that content as available and as open as the pirates do, with a reasonable price point. Convince them to compete, not legislate or punish.
  
  And if you do read a great book, play a great game, hear a great band, etc. for free, you can do something else for free - review the product anywhere you can - Amazon, Goodreads, iTunes, Good Game app, whatever - and help to promote the good stuff. It only takes a few minutes of your time, but is invaluable to the creators. Signal boost the good stuff, people!
  
  Reply
- Phill says:
  
  09:41am | 22/02/12
  
  i have to be honest I have never heard of you as an author Alan BUT after reading your article I have to say your attitude makes me want to read your book and promote it if good.
  
  Bravo sir, bravo.
  
  Reply
- Jeremy says:
  
  09:39am | 22/02/12
  
  I think to charge for a physical item it needs to be value added, plus a fair price. So I’m happy to pay for movies if it’s a bluray with a ton of special features. The problem for Australia is that Amazon.uk will post me one for 1/4 the price I can get online from Australia (which charges post) or from the shop (which I don’t get a free bus too).
  
  Reply
- ace leo ace says:
  
  09:38am | 22/02/12
  
  This,
  
  Maybe I am not an average punter but I went for years listing to the same dozen albums on CD. I was introduced by a friend to his large collection of digital music (some of it from questionable provenance!). Since then I have discovered numerous artists that I never would have been exposed to and I have legally purchased their back catalogues.
  
  Thing is that I won’t puchase on iTunes because of DRM. At least with physical media I can use the CD to put a copy on whatever device I want. The few DRM purchases that I have made on iTunes have been frustrating failed experiments because the restrictions put on them mean that I just don’t have that feeling of ownership that comes with owning physical media. For example I want to make a backup cd to play in the car, no joy, I want to share my music with a friend (who does not have my iTunes password!) no joy.
  
  There are many who will download illegally as their main way of accessing media, however there are also people like myself, who just want to pay their way and feel ownership of a product, but are denied the satisfaction of ownership by draconian DRM settings.
  
  Media: Set it free and you will be suprised how many people are willing to pay for it.
  
  Reply
James says:

10:52am | 22/02/12

You can get around Itunes limitations by burning the files to disk then ripping the cd into a mp3 format. Then to avoid double ups delete the originals from itunes and import the ones with the correct format.

But I agree with your point: itunes is a royal pain in the ass. Especially since I use windows media player for my music library and anything in the itunes format can’t be used by other players.
- James says:
  
  09:15am | 22/02/12
  
  Great article. I really like that point of view.
  
  Regarding the anti-piracy bandwagon: Nothing makes me want to download a movie more than those anti-piracy ads on a legitimate copy. Don’t they get it? I bought the damn thing so why berate me with 10 minutes of ads about something I didn’t do. If i had’ve downloaded it I could be watching it already. Simply moronic and counter productive.
  
  Reply
sandra says:

10:34am | 22/02/12

Hear hear! It is like all the restrictions on legitimate purchases of digital media. We have accounting software that requires us to ‘validate’ it every 6 months or so. It only has to be done on legal copies - I’m sure it doesn’t stop people using pirated software. We need to stop punishing/irritating/inconveniencing the people who do the right thing.
Your comment on the anti-piracy ads on DVD’s have been echoed in our house for years. It appears that the producers of the media just don’t get it.
- Jane2 says:
  
  08:54am | 22/02/12
  
  It comes down to why you write (music or novels or anything else). Do you write because you have a drive in you to write and the ultimate compliment is having people say they like your stuff or do you do it in the hope of making a fortune.
  
  If its the second you are and always have been doomed to failure. Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters even Mark Twain never got rich from their work and yet they are extremely well known authors whose stories still sell in the thousands long after their deaths.
  
  Btw, the worst bit of old world literature piracy is the public library. 1 purchase but possibly hundreds of readers…maybe they publishing houses should set up a campaign to ban libraries as it makes as much sense as their attempts to control online piracy.
  
  Reply
- Smidgeling says:
  
  08:48am | 22/02/12
  
  I just finished writing a comment saying exactly what you said on the other piracy blog on the punch.
  
  I read a friend’s copy of Vernon God Little. I loved it, so I went and bought it for $10 on book depository. I think that’s the case with many people. I downloaded The Pretty Reckless’ album becuase I was cuious. Loved it, went and bought it. And I’d see them live if they toured.
  
  In both cases, borrowing/piracy has resulted in a sale in the end as well as general interest. However, had I not had that option the author and the band would not have got any of my money.
  
  Reply
Smidgeling says:

09:55am | 22/02/12

Fark- another band I have to miss this time around.
Martin says:

09:35am | 22/02/12

@Smidgeling

The Pretty Reckless are part of 2012 Soundwave lineup (coming to a capital city near you over the next few days).

\off topic
- Douglas says:
  
  08:37am | 22/02/12
  
  DRM (and other stupid methods such as region locking) only ENCOURAGES piracy. People don’t want to deal with stupid rules and conditions thrown at them by the company (IE: Buying a legit PC game and only allowed to install it a handful number of times). So no wonder they pirate and enjoy all the benefits of said game/video/so forth without silly conditions.
  
  Author totally on the money. Great article.
  
  Reply
- The Bishop of Aquila says:
  
  08:36am | 22/02/12
  
  Weird Al Yankovic says it all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM8PT1eAvY
  
  Reply
Shane From Melbourne says:

10:20am | 22/02/12

Post of the day. You win.
- Davy says:
  
  08:36am | 22/02/12
  
  Hear hear. I like the sound of this article. Perhaps art and money are very uneasy bedfellows anyway.
  
  Reply
St. Michael says:

11:29am | 22/02/12

Hardly. It’s only when you separate the money from the guy who actually made the art that it starts to become a problem.
- Michael says:
  
  08:29am | 22/02/12
  
  DRM is ridiculous.
  
  “Oh you want me to pay for your content, but I can only use it on a restricted set of items under your brand.” Apple I am looking at you.
  
  Why should I pay for an album that I can only play on iBranded rubbish? It is not up to the content owner to control what I do with your content once I have purchased it. This issue alone is what turns so many away from the existing (poor) digital content distribution systems. Steam is the only one that comes close to being acceptable.
  
  Why am I able to download content via torrents at high speed, without any restrictions on how or where I use it, but I am unable to access this same unrestricted content via a legitimate distributer? Napster came out, what, 15 years ago? The technology is readily available. There has been plenty of time for content distributers to adopt it if they wanted to.
  
  The reason they didnt is that it wasn’t worth their while to give consumers unrestricted access to their content, even though the technology was available to do so. Content owners wanted to be able to sell the same item to a consumer many times over. One sale for each format, VHS/DVD/Blu Ray etc etc. More cash was made this way.
  
  Now that the cash is not being made to the same extent, content owners are bleating. Well, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The technology exists for you to distribute unrestricted content for a fee. Sure, for less of a fee than in the golden days, and sure, you will only be able to sell content once, but that is something that you will have to come to terms with. That is what results from technological advances and true competition in the market place.
  
  Compete or die.
  
  Reply
- JB says:
  
  08:23am | 22/02/12
  
  Hear hear.
  
  I am an avid reader and love ebooks. I generally try to buy books online but am often fustrated by lack of legal availability in Australia, different (higher) pricing for Australia, ridiculously high prices overall, and format and DRM issues (I will NEVER buy from Amazon). I feel no guilt downloading a free copy in these circumstances.
  
  I also download copies of older books by authors I’ve not read before and don’t know if I’ll like. I’ve now bought more recent books from most of those authors.
  
  Reply
- dancan says:
  
  08:20am | 22/02/12
  
  To quote Gabe Newel, CEO of cofounder of Valve (Valve are the owners of steam, the largest games digital distribution service in the world)
  
  “We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.”
  
  He sums up the situation very weill, and his quote doesn’t even touch on ridiculous DRM
  
  Reply
amy says:

10:49am | 22/02/12

the guy has got a point

but I still hate steam for eating 40% of my internet limit just because I wanted to play left 4 dead
Chris L says:

09:46am | 22/02/12

Another problem for Valve and other companies looking to make sales in Australia are our ridiculous censorship rules… but I guess that’s another story.
- Nathan Explosion says:
  
  08:05am | 22/02/12
  
  Exactly. People go to libraries. People borrow books and CDs and DVDs from their friends. How many times have you taped a song off the radio or put it on a tape for your walkman in your youth?
  
  Reply
- acotrel says:
  
  07:44am | 22/02/12
  
  As far as books are concerned, I get mine from a library, and read them in bed. I have bought about three from Amazon. My wife buys a lot from bookshops. but also borrows a few.
  I oftenwonder why people complain about their stuff being downloaded from Youtube ? Most often it is uploaded by themselves with the objective of becoming known to the public. In my own situation, I will sometimes download several clips of a relatively unknown artist, then look for their DVD or CD on the web with a view to buying it. The stuff that APRA get into about protecting performing rights, is penny pinching bullshit. The bigger picture is that if an artist becomes known through ‘illegal’ playing of his product, the returns will far outweigh the dribble he would stop through APRA .
  
  Reply
- Kebabpete says:
  
  07:43am | 22/02/12
  
  Finally, an artist who is thinking about things based on the modern world we live in, instead of just crying out “poor me”.
  
  Great piece Alan, I wish there were more people out there thinking your way.
  
  Reply
- Kerryn says:
  
  07:13am | 22/02/12
  
  I just want to eventually get published and for people to read my work. That’s all I want. People to read my stories. I’m an entertainer by nature.
  
  Right now I’m just stuck posting on Helium but I’ll get there eventually. I hate that word.
  
  Reply
Chris L says:

09:41am | 22/02/12

I think “eventually” is a vast improvement on “someday”.
Potato says:

08:06am | 22/02/12

This is an interesting comment. I remember Mick Jagger saying in an interview a few months ago that his career extended through in an unprecedented time in music history. He said that prior to 100 years ago performers/entertainers earned nearly nothing, as their performances could only be seen live as recording equipment had not yet been invented/not yet widespread. He said that there was this brief period from the 1940’s until 2000’s where music/movies etc and all associated were rich because we had the ability to harness everything through recording/film and control its worldwide distribution…..he said that it won’t be long where artists are like they were in the good old days of the 1800’s - successful because they can perform live…..
- Craig says:
  
  06:30am | 22/02/12
  
  It used to be that when I bought a book I could reread it as many times as I wanted until it wore out, dog-earred and failing glue, when I would replace it - the natural obsolescence cycle of a physical product.
  
  However with digital books, music and video publishers expect me to pay again every time they change the format, I change my device, or possibly after ‘x’ number of uses. They have attempted to translate natural obsolescence into the digital world as their business models are based on resale after resale.
  
  This is abysmal corporate behaviour, an attempt to preserve an outdated commercial model that benefits the seller at the expense of the buyer. Digital copies do not degrade and, when stored appropriately, can never be lost.
  
  When I buy a digital book, music, movie, game or other work I expect to buy it, not rent it. I entrust my hard earnt dollars on a contract that says I own that copy and can do with it as I will for as long as I want.
  
  However publishers only want to rent the work to me. They wish to profiteer by controlling my access - which devices and locations I can use it. They seek to preserve a business model out of the stone age as it is cheaper to sell copies of already existing works than to invest in the creation of new content. money for free, preserving their out-dated businesses.
  
  I believe that if you buy a work - be it music, book, movie, game or other digital product, you own it for your natural life AND for the lives of all your descendants. Just as we hand down heirloom furniture, jewelry, clothes, books and records, we should be entitled to enjoy and hand down digital good without restriction.
  
  This means that once you own a work, if the publisher changes formats you get a replacement for the cost of the physical creation of the format alone. If you change devices you can take all your owned digital works with you. If you move locations, you can redownload the works you own from the cloud.
  
  This is already what people expect and wish to do, or are doing. Publishers hate it, it breaks their age-old model. Upgrade the device and resell their back catalogue. Lock a user into a ‘purchase’ that is really a rental. Yes library, you can lend ebooks, but after 26 lends the digital copy is locked and you must rebuy it to lend it out again (all the while telling the library, it is just like a paper book really, the digital copy has gotten ‘old’ and needs replacement).
  
  We need to break the power of the publishers. Teach them that yes, they can sell us products AND they can also rent us products. However if we buy the work it is now ours to enjoy as we see fit and you have no right to go on charging us, time after time, cassette to CD to DVD to Bluray to Apple store, to Android store and so on infinitely for the same work.
  
  Sure, release your director’s cuts, extended versions and digitally remastered gems. You’ve added value (sometimes) and we’ll pay for your effort, but don’t treat customers like fools - expecting us to exchange every cow we own for the same magic bean.
  
  For writers, musicians, actors and others involved in the creative industries - recognize that most of us are busy creating, every day. You do not hold a divine right to resell your work over and over again, no more than a farmer can sell the same apple, a clothing maker can sell the same shirt or a car maker can sell the same car.
  
  You have the right to make copies (at significantly less marginal cost than a farmer, clothes maker or carmaker) and sell them to other people, but you do NOT have the right to charge us again, just as the farmer cannot charge us a second time for the apple if we get dentures, the clothes maker for me rewearing the shirt or the carmaker for allowing me to drive my car on a new road.
  
  Yes you are special - we know you are told that every day. That your works uplift millions, that they set a new trend, that they will change the world.
  
  It’s all claptrap. Don’t buy into the rhetoric of the publishers in your ear. They simply wish to use and abuse you for their own profit, control the work you created and take most of your profits.
  
  If you wish to maximize your reach, you cannot maximize your revenue per unit. Simple economics. The higher the price the less people will buy, the lower the price the less you will make per copy but the more you are likely to sell.
  
  Take a fair profit from each copy, but once sold allow the user the right to enjoy that work for life, share it with their children and become a memory for their grandkids.
  
  Don’t buy into the short-term self-destructive claims of publishers that they will ‘make you famous’. What will make you famous, or not, is your efforts. Don’t sell yourself to publishers who offer nothing more than distribution and promotion. Distribution is now free. If your work is good enough it will promote itself (with a little help, but nothing that requires you to sacrifice over 90% of your earnings).
  
  Reply
Craig says:

05:52am | 24/02/12

@Ella actually I have written books. All of them have been published. None are self-published, but I struck deals with publishers that I felt were fair

You may even have read some of them…
PsychoHyena says:

12:19pm | 22/02/12

@Ella, given that Craig was talking about being an end-user how does your response marry? I have the same opinions and I’ve never written a book.
St. Michael says:

11:43am | 22/02/12

@ Ella: if you think you can’t make a living out of self-publishing and self-distribution, may I direct you to this site: http://www.johntreed.com.

I assure you, his articles on the subject are not because his books got rejected. Quite the contrary. He was a well-published author in a niche area—real estate and tax planning—until he began to figure out that he made more money self-publishing and self-distributing than going through a distributor. In fact his publishing income jumped 257% when he finally moved over to solely self-publishing and distribution. He’s also moved into several other fields since then, with comparable success. If you count successive and updated editions, he’s published over 80 books, and made enough money for a six figure income, albeit it’s taken him a while to get there. Do not think that having a major publisher is going to get you anywhere near the same result: for every Rowling, King, or Picoult, there are dozens of “mid list” authors whose work did get accepted and who still are kept on the poverty line—look for a book called “Confessions of a Mid-List Author” on the sort of crap you have to put up with just to support the vanity of being a “published” author.
Erick says:

10:25am | 22/02/12

@Ella - That was a poor response to a well-reasoned comment. It reeks of the arrogance that will eventually ruin many existing industries as their customers desert them.
Ella says:

09:43am | 22/02/12

I believe the standard response to this kind of rant is ‘I’m sorry your book got rejected’.
- Mahhrat says:
  
  05:56am | 22/02/12
  
  What kind of writing are we talking about here? I’m interested in supporting an artist who isn’t going to blindly bow to the $$ while using his art for criticising the rest of society for doing the same thing.
  
  Reply
Ally says:

03:16pm | 22/02/12

I had a quick look at Alan’s books on Amazon. According to that, he writes dark fantasy and sci-fi. That’s up my alley, so I’ve sent the available sample of one book to my kindle to check out later.
- SteveKAG says:
  
  05:30am | 22/02/12
  
  You are so right, i see music being sold online at the same price or similar to going to JB Hifi and buying the CD….......I mean come on, i am not that stupid and i just won’t buy it on principle, i will however download it for free so you get nothing…..........Your article has resinated with me, instead of policing torrent sites, try builign sites as easy to use, as easy to pay for books, music, movies and become a competitor.
  
  Reply
- Erick says:
  
  05:15am | 22/02/12
  
  Intrusive DRM is stupid. It means that paying customers actually get a product that is inferior to the counterfeit one - a reversal of the usual bootlegging hierarchy!
  
  There’s one game I would really like to buy, but it has a copy protection scheme that is so nasty I won’t let it anywhere near my computer. No money for you, publisher! But those people who download a pirated copy get the game for free, and without the crippleware.
  
  Who wants to pay more for an inferior product? This business model cannot be sustained in the long run.
  
  Reply
Brian says:

11:26am | 23/02/12

Ah, so the law says that product is illegal in Australia… what you need to do here is get the law changed, rather than say ‘I can’t get it legitimately’. I can’t get heroin legitimately either (and no, I don’t think heroin is the same as computer games - I hate our lack of R rating), but it’s not just piracy any more. Or are you suggesting that we should be able to pick and choose which laws apply to us?

If there is no legal method of obtaining a product, because that product is itself illegal, then copyright infringement is the least of your worries.

For that matter, the point about making an audio file from the movie which you DO own is simply making a backup for your own use (i.e. already legal), and hence is a moot point here.
Smidgeling says:

07:47am | 23/02/12

You took the words right out of my mouth Hyena.

Also, regarding 3), I do have the movie. That’s my point Brian….
PsychoHyena says:

07:28pm | 22/02/12

@Brian and if it was found out that you have breached the Australian importation laws (which bringing a refused classification product into Australia does) then you will be charged for that act, meaning that is not a legitimate way to obtain that product.
Brian says:

04:07pm | 22/02/12

Smidgeling, your examples don’t quite match up, unfortunately:

1) Those games which are not available for sale here are still available for sale overseas and can be shipped here. Therefore there is a legitimate method for your acquisition. For those things which are illegal here and everywhere, it’s not just piracy…

2) As for the first one - I have on several occasions had friends in the US purchase games before it is released here and sent it to me, and have quite a few friends playing The Old Republic, even though it’s not out here for a month or so.

3) Nothing stopping you buying the movie, then creating the audio file from the legitimate source…

As to your last question, about buying a counterfeit - in the European Union (or it may just be Italy/Germany), yes they are thieves. The primary thieves are those who make it, but to knowingly purchase a counterfeit item is also morally wrong.

And after all this: I commend the author for his stand, and wish the other content creators would follow it. It is, however, the right of those other creators to shoot themselves in the foot if they so choose.
Smidgeling says:

11:39am | 22/02/12

Bertrand- There are pleny of situations like this.

1) The lack of R rating for video games prevents selling some titles here.

2) Some game titles/versions of songs simply do not get released in Australia.

3) Some movies have songs in them, but they are not put on the soundtrack, eg the Brie Larson version of “Black sheep” from Scott Pilgrim (although I suppose that’s not strictly piracy because making an audio file from a small part of a movie is creating a product that doesn’t exist to be sold…).

The thing companies need to accept is that they will not ever exterminate piracy. There will always be someone who can get around whatever measures they have put in place. So why not address the issues causing the bulk of piracy? Ease of access, no try before you buy and inflated/distorted prices….

And Bertrand, to address your point about the toaster from Harvey Norman, I will answer with another question that may or may not apply to you. If someone likes a brand name item and buys a counterfeit copy from market, are they a thief too?
Smidgeling says:

11:39am | 22/02/12

Bertrand- There are pleny of situations like this.

1) The lack of R rating for video games prevents selling some titles here.

2) Some game titles/versions of songs simply do not get released in Australia.

3) Some movies have songs in them, but they are not put on the soundtrack, eg the Brie Larson version of “Black sheep” from Scott Pilgrim (although I suppose that’s not strictly piracy because making an audio file from a small part of a movie is creating a product that doesn’t exist to be sold…).

The thing companies need to accept is that they will not ever exterminate piracy. There will always be someone who can get around whatever measures they have put in place. So why not address the issues causing the bulk of piracy? Ease of access, no try before you buy and inflated/distorted prices….

And Bertrand, to address your point about the toaster from Harvey Norman, I will answer with another question that may or may not apply to you. If someone likes a brand name item and buys a counterfeit copy from market, are they a thief too?
PsychoHyena says:

11:36am | 22/02/12

@Bertrand, and therein lies the problem, you could then be charged with piracy. Oh and China is one place where this could happen. But sticking to Australia, if I wanted to purchase a product that has been refused classification say, then I would have to buy it from overseas. If I do so and it gets withheld by Customs then I have spent money for a product I do not have. In other words there is no legitimate way for me to get the product so why not “pirate” it?

I am also talking about texts, such as Enid Blyton books which were banned in Australia for a period of time.
Bertrand says:

10:54am | 22/02/12

@PsychoHyena - I can’t really think of a situation where that would occur. If you desperately want the product, you should be willing to pay for it, even if you have to support an industry you dislike.

If the product isn’t available for sale in Australian stores it would almost certainly be available for purchase online, either through a streaming site, or through the purchase of the physical product from an overseas supplier.

If there truly was no other avenue for you to acquire it, then I don’t have a problem with you downloading it for free. The producer/distributor provided no possible option for you to transfer payment to them, so you can’t be blamed for failing to pay them.
PsychoHyena says:

10:31am | 22/02/12

@Bertrand, okay let’s try this one. If you have no access to obtain a product legitimately and the only method to obtain it is through copyright infringement, what are your views there? I’m thinking it’s going to be a case of “oh well” from you.
Cynicised says:

10:28am | 22/02/12

+1 Bertrand. Perfectly put.
Bertrand says:

09:43am | 22/02/12

@Leigh - The justifications you are making to explain why it is ok for them to consume films, music and games that they haven’t paid for boil down to the following:

“We wouldn’t have bought it anyway” - so what? You are now consuming it. The people/companies that produced the product deserve to receive the financial benefits stemming from your consumption.

“Copyright infrigement isn’t stealing” - playing with definitions doesn’t mean you are right. Consuming a product you haven’t paid for is a form of theft. At the least you are stealing the profits that should flow to a producer when their product is consumed.

“The recording industry is dominated by exploitive companies that refuse to change their business model. They rip of consumers and artists alike.”

Yes, this is correct. It doesn’t make consuming one of their products without payment any more morally or legally right. You have referred to alternative business models and the importance of copyright for the artists who actually create the work. So support people who operate in that market. Buy from the independent artist who has self produced. Feel free to download the samples of their music they make freely available. Pay for the rest. Stop consuming products produced by the major companies controlling the market.

It doesn’t matter that you aren’t taking a physical item. It doesn’t matter that you are taking from corporate bullies. At a personal level, I know that acquiring and using a product for sale that I didn’t pay for is morally wrong. The law says it is legally wrong.

Attempts to get around those two simple ideas don’t suddenly make the consumption of goods for sale without payment right.
Leigh says:

08:38am | 22/02/12

Bertrand,

Don’t buy the hype whipped up by the copyright industry about comparing digital copies to physical items. Copyright infringement and theft of a physical item are chalk and cheese.

Theft deprives the owner of the item. Copyright infringement deprives the copyright holder some royalties *if* (and *only* if) the infringer would have bought it, had they not downloaded it. Which is highly unlikely in many cases where someone would casually download something Studies have also shown that in general, people that “infringe copyrighted works”(I refuse to use the term “piracy”, as it is innacurate and muddies the waters, just ) are bigger consumers of legitimate media as well.

So pretty much all the opposite of what the fat-cat media executives try to claim. The only people that stand to lose from a more modern media distribution model are the corporate dinosaurs with their vast amounts of money for acting as the middle men, and gatekeepers between media producers and media consumers.

Obviously, a model where everything is free all the time will not work, but the solution is not the archaic model clung to by the recording and movie industries… which is where they write laws to protect their own enormous profits at the expense of both artists and consumers (see the recent stupidity around the SOPA, PIPA and ACTA bills in the US and Europe). If we do make/modify laws around copyright, they must *not* be written solely to protect corporate interests, they must not be formed on pre-digital age concepts(like comparing theft of a physical item to cloning a few 1’s and 0’s) and they must be fair and equitable and work in the spirit of what copyright is actually all about.

Copyright is a very important thing for creators of words, movies and music, and it must work in the interests of the artists (allowing *them* to reaonsably profit from their art). Publisher and studios obviously have an important role, but it is not to unreasonably harass the general public, and be in control of the Internet and the governments of the world!

In any case, the answers must come from cold hard facts. Not speculation and anecdotes about “people I know pirate everything and buy nothing” and *definitely* not the horrible lies from the festering mouths of the recording industry. Don’t buy the hype.
fox says:

07:16am | 22/02/12

A story on Ubisoft moving their servers:

So their “always on” internet based DRM (even for singleplayer) stops working for 4 days and..

The only people that can play the games are the pirates. Any legit purchaser gets screwed.
M says:

06:10am | 22/02/12

I tried to be a good consumer. I went to the video game store, bought a copy of a game I wanted, and then toddled off and tried to install it on my computer.

No love. I ended up having to download a pirated version and crack it to get it to work. At least someone made a buck out of the legitimate copy that went into the trash.
Danny B says:

06:06am | 22/02/12

Erick,

I agree with you on the business model, it does need to be updated. Instead, they try to enact legislation like SOPA and PIPA to protect that business model.

Hmm, pressuring the government to legislate to protect an outdated business model from online competition…sound familiar?
Bertrand says:

05:47am | 22/02/12

You are right about DRM. If I buy something, I’m buying the data and should have the right to convert the data and use it how I see fit.

However, I still don’t buy the argument that pirating stuff is ok. Plenty of people my age haven’t bought music or movies for years. Everything piece of music of every film they have acquired in the past 5 years has been pirated. The author of this article is arguing that these downloads give artists exposure, but when you have a huge segment of massive consumers no longer paying for their consumption, that is theft.

I do think the music, film and book industries have been far too slow to adapt to the changing nature of distribution, and they continue to rip people off who buy online. Expensive prices still aren’t an excuse for theft.

I think Harvey Norman charges through the nose and is clinging to an outdated business model. Does that give me the right to enter one of Gerry Harvey’s stores and flog a toaster?

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