User talk:Banddcole

This is the user talk page for Banddcole

Banddcole (talk) 16:25, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

Online Streaming Services and the Death of Piracy
We've been told by movie distributors that piracy is harming the film industry, yet it continues to make more money every year? Give people what they want at a price that they can afford and through a service that is contemporary and accessible to the everyday person, and the money will come. I went from pirating almost all of my music to nothing at all, because Spotify offered me a way to pay for my music in an affordable way, and through a medium that reflects the technology of today. People aren't going to continue to pay £10 for a cinema ticket of which they have no idea whether they will enjoy the film or not, only to have to buy it on technology that is near 10 years outdated if they want to see it again. Netflix and Amazon are showing the way forward for a consistent, modern and accessible platform for watching films and television, and Hollywood need to do the same.

Illegal torrent and streaming sites such as The Pirate Bay and the recently closed Popcorn Time exist not to extort the Hollywood industry or to backhandedly take the film away from its creators, but as a sharing platform. An interesting interview with the creator of Popcorn Time exposes not a man interested in the theft of property, but in the sharing of something he loves. He and his small team created a way to share new films in a timely manner, with an accessible user interface and little fuss. Granted, the project had to be closed down when the user base grew too large to manage without causing serious legal problems, but the success of Popcorn Time does not mean that it's users are greedy, or unwilling to pay for content. In the absence of an affordable service that uses technology in line with that of today, consumers are forced to create and share their own equivalent, regardless of the subsequent penalty.

As the catalogues of online streaming services become larger and more diverse - with more in-house, award winning productions and recent AAA titles - it is going to become increasingly difficult for the Hollywood industry to carry incentive in buying a cinema ticket. Popcorn Time may have been only a small experiment, but it led the way in showing consumers what was possible with the technology at hand, and it's comparative price and ease of use. Spotify and Netflix started their lives in illegal hot water, with lawsuits and copyright claims abound - but as distributors saw such great promise in the services they were transformed into streamlined, content-filled platforms with heavy support from industry leaders and artists. As these services grow and expand, and become more synonymous with the everyday user, it will become difficult for Hollywood to ignore that the empty seats aren't caused by what people aren't paying for with Popcorn Time, but what they are paying for popcorn.

Banddcole (talk) 10:37, 10 February 2016 (UTC)