Last week we discussed the trials and tribulations faced by the RIAA as the spread of music piracy puts executives and artists out on the streets, so I thought that it would be an interesting turn to take today’s space to discuss the ramifications that piracy takes on the video and motion picture industry, and what steps need to be taken for everyone to wind up happy…
This comparison, albeit, can be broken up into two sections which I will address separately – the theatrical portion and the home video portion, even though the first one seems to bear a fairly obvious solution, in my ever-so-humble opinion. The piracy of mainstream, theatrical productions, you see, takes place either by means of a 3rd party literally taping the film with a video camera as it appears onscreen or by acquiring an advance copy of the film (i.e. screening copies for movie critics, awards competitions, and the production executives) and duplicating from there. Time after time, we hear of the MPAA going after downloaders and distributors of these films as they become available weeks before even hitting the theaters, however it seems to me that greater strides could be made by simply cutting these groups off at the source. Frankly, stop letting your review DVDs fall into the wrong hands and fanatics toting video cameras into your theaters and bingo – no more theatrical piracy!
Now of course, this approach really only scratches the surface because as we continue to see technology progress, it also makes full-length DVDs all the more easier to transfer illegally from one party to another, and really, how many more features can we put on these new discs, anyways?! Now of course, the other end of the spectrum isn’t nearly as mindless and simple because unlike last week’s discussion of audio CDs, we really can’t expect the studios to fabricate many more “special features” to pack onto their DVDs. In fact, in my opinion the bulk of what we see today is such lack-luster, filler material anyways that asking for even more crap seems like a waste of effort…
I think that the answer to this equation of ours lies more in the delivery than in the content itself anymore. Anyone who’s “less than honestly” attempted to download a DVD image lately…or even copy a borrowed disc…would vouch that it’s still not exactly a seamless process – either method involves decompressing and recompressing massive video and audio files, typically still resulting in a loss of quality because frankly we just can’t cram all of that stuff onto the shiny discs like the studios do. Liner materials and packaging really aren’t nearly as easy to reproduce like their CD counterparts, so we know that most real collectors and enthusiasts continue to purchase rather than pirate their addictions to place on the media rack at home, so by my calculations it seems that we really only need to be concerned with “casual usage” anyways.
My definition of “casual usage” being “I’m not going to buy this movie, but I’d probably rent it if I weren’t so damn lazy…,” it seems to me that the best course of action would simply be to improve the home video rental experience and bump it into the 21st century, if you will! HBO, Cinemax, and the other premium movie networks have already taken a step in the right direction with On-Demand programming, so I think that our next logical leap forward should be to bring the video store right into my living room. Right now I have a 5-megabit Internet connection running into my home capable of delivery a full-length DVD – without any additional compression – in a little under two hours (nearly real-time), and these speeds are only going to grow exponentially as fiber-optics continue to spread around the country, so why not take advantage of this high-bandwidth connectivity in a way that could revolutionize the industry?! Sure, the idea of NetFlix and receiving rentals in the mail was neat for a while, but even more appealing – I think – is the concept of having Blockbuster’s entire library available at your fingertips, in pure, digital clarity, for only a buck or two per title, or for the extra-zealous, a flat-rate of $15-$20 / month for unlimited viewing!
And that’s it, really. One thing that I think both of these industries are going to have to understand is that they’re never going to completely curb piracy efforts no matter how hard they try or how much money they dump into it. Just ask the software industry, as they took a huge beating when people started copying their products illegally and threw the multi-billion dollar industry into a panic back in the day. Luckily they saw this realization and now, thanks to the global presence of the Internet, purchasing a copy of Windows or Warcraft 3 not only lands you the product itself, but also a license to download security updates, patches to improve game play, and even challenge other users around the world – something that is impossible to pirate: the experience. Of course, they’re still not happy about the amount of software piracy that continues to exist, but at least now they’re focusing their efforts in a more productive manner – one that benefits both the producer and the consumer…
So will the MPAA or the RIAA ever come to this realization, and if so, how much will they want to charge for it? I know that it’s sad to admit that we live in an age where folks will turn to stealing if they don’t agree with the sticker price, but I truly believe that with the right frame of mind and a healthy dose of innovation, the digital age will triumph over piracy and both sides of the fence will reap the benefits.
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