In fact, an argument could be made using those same movies as an example, that these excessive IP laws have the exact opposite effect and actually end up stunting creativity and originality as the big corporations aim to milk every last penny from decades old franchises and ideas, instead of seeking new and original concepts, because the former is a far more profitable endeavor. I mean, look at the state of Hollywood right now - when was the last time you saw a truly novel and noteworthy movie, not based on an already established franchise/idea/series?
Have no doubt, even truly creative works would suffer, since there's no incentive for investors to invest even in truly creative work, since there's no monetary return on investment - just a movie which they can't monetize.
Imagine if George RR Martin had to hold a day job in addition to writing - how many books would he have actually written by this point?
In my experience, in recent years I've found to enjoy lot more independently produced content (which either happens to be free or very cheaply available) as opposed to big budget titles produced by big corporations. Not because I actively seek such content, but because I genuinely find it to be more worthwhile and enjoyable than the other option.
Now I can't really speak for motion pictures, because I don't watch tv shows and movies anymore - but I can definitely say this is very true for the music and video game industries - big investment and quality are not correlated.
It wasn't until later, sometimes centuries later, that these became broadly available to everyone.
So I guess, how much of an advance are you willing to give Steven King (or your favorite author) to write a novel for the world?
Then you're saying stuff was paid for by a rich patron.
Are you suggesting that patrons would not have stuff made if weren't exclusive?
It's worth remembering that exactly that is what happened. Rich guy paid for a thing, everyone got use of it. Some of the top works of history were created like this, and it bears consideration whether the corporations who make things for profit are as good at creating such works.
A patron, in comparison, is a single entity who is interested in the book, and who is capable of shelling out the $50,000 (a nice round number representing the salary for a good, but not great, writer and editor for the duration of getting the book produced) to have that book made. I'm not capable of doing that; I am guessing most people are not.
> it bears consideration whether the corporations who make things for profit are as good at creating such works
That's up to each person to decide. Is GRRM's Game of Thrones such a work? The Dark Tower series? Avengers Infinity War and Endgame?
Honestly, I think that yes, in many ways they are on par with or superior to books such as the Illiad and the Odyssey. They are absolutely better than Moby Dick.
It seems to me that content will get created regardless. Whether it's better is as you say a matter of taste, but both worlds have existed.
You can't be serious that Avengers is on par with the epics.
> How many patrons will pay to have something made in the current world, knowing they could just recoup their money?
How could they recoup their money, if there's no exclusivity? There's nothing to sell.
> It seems to me that content will get created regardless.
I guess ultimately, there is absolutely nothing stopping people in today's from creating the best content they possibly could, except for having to cover their cost of living. Today's IP protections allow them to cover their cost of living by creating content. A lack of IP protections means that creation will always be a second or lower priority to a vast majority of creators (those not sponsored by a patron)
To me, that means that a world that lets them create as a method of covering their cost of living is a better world for those creators.
Consumers spent money on the theater experience because it was the best way to see the movie when they wanted to see it.
Timed releases for content are fine, but if I buy a disk after the fact, I want to be able to copy it freely without DRM and jumping through stupid hurdles.
There's no audience participation in Avengers, and with today's home AV setups, there's little benefit to the theater environment; there's no incentive to pay to watch something that will be freely and legally available in a day or two (at most).
That already happens with a lot of movies where the movie is leaked (even sometimes before it lands in the cinema) and it does not seem to change anything to the theater results.
As the statement you quoted said, there is no evidence that this is the case.
Those movies made back their investment despite piracy, why would the removal of those IP protections change that? Many authors have not become commercially popular for much of their career but still wrote. How can you claim those books only exist because of copyright?
The theater offers very few practical enhancements to the viewing of a movie that aren't available in your average home theater system.
Evidence of this extremely bold claim?
Your idea of the "average home theatre" may be a bit exaggerated, particularly out of the Western market.
How exactly are these popcorn time variants acquiring high quality copies of the film in a quick time frame?
Nor world it cost so much to make movies, because the best way to do that, including the best software and hardware design, would belong to everyone.
Just ask yourself if Avengers - if the entire franchise of Marvel movies - would have been made if not for IP protections that allowed the costs of making those movies to be recouped; that allowed those movies to be profitable for the investors.
Ask yourself if we would have all the books we currently have from Steven King (or George R.R. Martin, or Stan Lee, or any other commercially popular author) if copyright (a form of IP protection) did not exist.
The answer is "No".
There are a few options for people to put their work up for free online, but if you've read or watched those, you realize that the quality is nowhere near a professionally written and edited novel or a movie with millions of post-production work budget.