The piracy of movies, music and general entertainment is actively and commonly practiced globally, robbing the movie industry of potential royalties and profits. Although pirating is highly illegal and is technically considered stealing, I honestly feel that downloading music and purchasing bootleg DVDs shouldn't be handled with such authority and severity. Today, the average price for a DVD is $20, and the average price for a theater ticket is $8, which are expenses too costly for a majority of people. Entertainment has become a highly profitable industry that has turned this form of art into a commodity and monopoly, depriving audiences of a more creative and diverse variety of entertainment and maximizing profits by keeping costs excessively high.
Music and theater are culturally and historically forms of expression that are shared with others for meaning and enjoyment. Pirating and illegally downloading music may be considered stealing, but in my opinion, entertainment has been stolen from this culture by strong emphasis on capitalism. When individuals can hardly make enough income to pay rent and utilities, how are the majority of individuals expected to purchases one movie for $20? Downloading music and movies is arguably balancing out the exorbitantly high prices that the entertainment industry has been charging to consumers. I feel that it is unacceptable for purity and the artistic element of music and film to be turned into products for market. Individuals should have the right to listen, watch and enjoy different forms of art and media without being taken advantage of with high prices. Music and film is being exploited for its ability to make profit.
2 comments:
I agree with you on this issue. Piracy is a huge deal around the world and especially in this country. Yes, it is stealing, but you are right when you say entertainment has been stolen from our culutre. Books for example: you can go to the library and check any book out for free. You can go to an art museum and pay $8, but see hundreds of works of art. So why should we pay $20 to own one DVD of ONE movie? It seems like a completely exorbitant price to me. I'm sure piracy effects people's lives who work in the industry. But, I would be curious to know: How much? Especially in the movie business where films gross multi-millions of dollars and stars get huge salaries. Are they really effected?
Piracy is huge globally. I remember in Vietnam I was able to buy any DVD I wanted for less than $1. They were all pirated copies, but pretty good quality as well. In developing countries, these pirated movies allows people to have this sort of entertainment who would not otherwise be able to afford it.
I agree with you 100%. Music and film are art forms. I don't believe people should view art as a business opportunity. People shouldn't have to pay to hear music and people should never make music with the strict intention of getting paid for it. When this happens, the creativity and artistic ability are stolen away from a once beautiful thing. Film's unreasonably high profits should be balanced out by piracy. Besides, piracy probably leads to increased sales for the industry. Those extra products they sell that are related to the production are just as appealing to someone who saw the film at a lower cost or for free as they are to someone who paid $8 to see it in a theater or $50 to own a copy of it.
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