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A comment on Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing. Parent comment

Re:Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing by Kalium on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @11:30AM (#20810652)
> If digital piracy is unchecked, then it forces artists to dream up other ways to make money.

I think you've accurately captured the state of the world for the vast majority of owners of IP who wish to profit from their work. It is extremely rare for royalties to produce any significant percentage of revenues for artists. Most revenue comes from merchandise, live performances, custom work, and so on.

With this in mind, I submit that the actual value of IP in most cases is close to zero.

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Re:Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing by bediger4000 on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @12:06PM (#20811158)
> With this in mind, I submit that the actual value of IP in most cases is close to zero.

I heartily endorse this opinion or viewpoint.

After accepting this as true, we must confront why "intellectual property" in the form of taxpayer-funded enforcement of ownership of an idea exists.

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Re:Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing by knightofmars on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @01:25PM (#20812238)
Mickey Mouse.
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Re:Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing by TeMPOraL on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @11:37AM (#20810760)
I think it also must be noted that this would be the case with zero piracy as well. It's not pirates who eat up all the IP revenue, it's the middlemen between the artist and the audience.
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Re:Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing by Kalium on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @12:20PM (#20811368)
It may also be worth considering how value is created by the intermediaries. In the case of, for example, a hit single it's not obvious to me how much of the financial value came from the music itself and how much from the promotion of it.

Which only makes me wonder further if the underlying IP is really valuable or not.

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Re:Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing by TeMPOraL on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @12:30PM (#20811496)
That's a fair point. Come to think of it, hit singles seem to be a lottery - most of the successful ones aren't much different from the unsuccessful ones, except that they reach the threshold of popularity (after which it becomes a positive feedback loop for a while). Spending money on promotion increases the chances of a single to win the lottery.

So I guess I must concede the point. At least in pop music, it could be argued that the value of the work alone is small, and almost all of the value is created by third parties. You gave me something to think about.

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Re:Just Enough Piracy Can Be a Good Thing by ddingus on Tuesday August 27, 2019 @12:44PM (#20811691)
Given an IP strong environment, promotion via piracy, either by blatant give away, "free", or by tolerating some piracy can be high value when compared with the cost of promoters.

A few examples:

Official torrent with tip jar, purchase here info included. One could host this torrent too.

Download here page with ads and opportunity to buy, pay what one wants to pay.

Pay for copy, or stream it anytime from our nice server...

Social media, coupled with variations on the above can get word out quickly.

These things, and the many variations on them possible, are of least advantage to the big players, and can be a serious advantage for new, small, up and coming players.

Piracy does not eliminate any sales opportunities. And it can often garner attention where buying that attention can be otherwise costly.

Being relevant opens a lot of potential doors.

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