adjusts for the increase in worldwide internet use as well as bandwidth
Why? The fact that it was physically hard to pirate movies in 1997 is part of why people didn't do it.
Through YouTube
iTunes Music predates YouTube being a viable music platform. I'm talking about filesharing.
Music-ripping tools were ubiquitous at the time
I'm talking about pre-CD-drive.
Can you provide a source for this that adjusts for the increase in worldwide internet use as well as bandwidth?
When Netflix started, it was an overnight DVD delivery company, not directly competing with online movie piracy. Pirating movies in 1997 meant making large sacrifices over quality and convenience, not because people "weren't used to it".
By the time Netflix entered the online movie streaming market to compete with piracy, the DMCA had been in effect for years. The world was very used to filesharing before the DMCA went into effect. And Blockbuster was already suffering poorly not just because of Netflix but because of a general shift in how people consume their movies.
> Whereas by the time iTunes Music rolled around, people were already comfortable with having the whole world of music at their fingertips
Through YouTube? Because otherwise I don't know of a truly comprehensive legal streaming service. Unless you're referring to filesharing?
> Perhaps the most interesting part about all this is that there was never (to my knowledge) such a thing as a store where you could rent records, tapes, or CDs -- Blockbuster for music.
Music-ripping tools were ubiquitous at the time (everyone had a CD drive), movie ripping tools were not nearly as popular. It didn't economically make sense.