1. Musician Profile: The music industry has been the primary opponent of internet file sharing since the practice became popular in the late nineties and CD sales started to drop off. Now with for profit music download sites being legally established right, left, and center, the music industry is trying to finish off the unregulated of music online. However, free online distribution actually expands an up and coming band’s exposure ten-fold. The music industry should take advantage of unregulated sharing to increase new acts’ exposure.
2. Movie Distribution: With movie theatres losing money and video stores reporting lower than average rental numbers every fiscal quarter, the film production and distribution industry must look to file sharing raise the profile of movies as an entertainment medium. While the industry would like to receive compensation for every copy of every film distributed, the fact is, for older films that are already on television, unregulated file sharing offers opportunity to get these products to audiences that might not otherwise pay them any attention.
3. Book Distribution: The potential unregulated file sharing has for a new and unexposed author is clear. Publishing paper and ink copies of a novel is prohibitive to say the least. The unregulated sharing of files on the internet allows a book to be widely distributed in whole or in part to a wider audience than could be found on any shelf in any bookstore.
4. Video Game Distribution: Video game designers and producers know better than any industry the advantage to be gained by online connections, as games such as Half-Life and World of Warcraft take full advantage of online technology. However, the industry ought not oppose unregulated file sharing, as it is this medium by which most new popular games are distributed in their beta stage of development and it here that the gaming community decides what will be the next big name game.
5. Software Distribution: Software manufacturers fight unregulated file sharing tooth and nail. However, file sharing online actually improves the exposure of software products far more than any other form of distribution or advertising. Moreover, freeware and shareware is often limited and glitch ridden, so consumers who are serious about using a given software product will still buy a licensed copy.
6. Democratization of Culture: The internet, specifically unregulated file sharing, has democratized the mediums for culture and art in an age of cultural division and diversity. File sharing online allows artists of all stripes and mediums to distribute and expose their work to a larger than life audience. Youtube alone is a massive storehouse of new and previously unexposed art and culture, although refinements are still needed.
7. Technology Flourishes When Uninhibited: Unregulated file sharing allows inventors and innovators to search and access information, reports, and instructions uninhibited by fees or other profit driven nuisances. In this way, unregulated file sharing itself is a contribution to research and development as it breaks down barriers between various schools and specialties in any given technological, academic or scientific field. Fewer barriers between great thinkers and versatile innovators will speed up humanities ability to advance the technological basics we have today that are just begging to be put to more practical and effective use.
8. Free Content is Only Universal Content: Free content is the only content that one can be sure will reach the maximum audience as anything that requires the viewer to pay a fee will automatically alienate itself from ninety-nine percent of the public who will not be willing to invest their money in whatever it is being distributed. In this way, free content, such as that distributed by unregulated file sharing systems is the only universally distributed content.
9. Impossible to Completely Wipe Out File Sharing: To fight unregulated file sharing is entirely futile. Since various big name musicians went after music file sharing service Napster, one sharing network after another has become popular and been attacked by businesses and individuals who feel robbed by people sharing their records and movies with everyone else. It does not seem likely that all file sharing will be stamped out anytime soon. Even if every file sharing service available right now is eliminated by tomorrow, by next week a whole new generation of file sharing networks will have been established given the great demand for free music, movies, games, and software.
10. Advertising Potential: As yet, the untapped advertising potential intrinsic in unregulated file sharing has not been largely explored. With so many downloads every, an advertiser that can get his client’s message involved in enough of those downloads will have a large, almost unlimited market. Moreover, this market is, right now, largely untapped. Very few free downloads or file sharing services involve any ads at all.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
…they don’t seem that distinct…the first four could all be rolled into 1 point…These reasons aren’t especially persuasive as to why companies should forgo litigation and other attempts to enforce their intellectual property rights. I use file sharing just like any one else, but these seem rather weak justifications.
Ok, there is free exposure for a given artist, movie, software, etc. How does said exposure offset the lost revenue that would have been generated by sales? You could argue that more people would be willing to buy other merchandise / go to a concert, but I don’t see how exposure in and of itself helps any commercial entity when their product can easily be acquired for free.
Take the technology argument for example - what’s the spillover mechanism between file sharing and new technology? There are a few examples, but they mostly pertain to enhanced file-sharing (bittorrent, etc.). What prohibitive barriers exist right now that stop this free flow of information, and what does file sharing actually accomplish to promote technological innovation?
What’s the benefit of universal content…?
Untapped ad revenue? There’s a particular reason that few downloads are ad-driven - they are illegal. It’s difficult to promote revenue for a venture that could potentially put both the site running it and the advertiser in trouble with not only the law, but with those whose software / files are being pilfered. Why not go directly to either the artist or the company representing them?
I’m not trying to stick up for the man in any sense, but I think that rather than fall into the standard “10 reasons _____” you should either find more robust arguments or whittle the list down.