I would consider that if I am selling a product that has absolutely no scarcity, such as digital files, I have a few approaches.
- Introduce artificial scarcity with something like DRM
- Create a business model focused on the service of providing the product, rather than the product itself
I would not try to accuse my potential consumers of a crime in order to fix the flaws in my business model.
problem is that greedy media moguls want to get paid for a piece of content forever, instead of just raising enough money to cover the labor and advertising, give stakeholders some profit, and move on, so they cannot exist this way.
That is their problem though :)
The end result of my pirating is a media service that is easier to use, is higher quality and requires less effort than a streaming service (though initial costs and setup time were high).
I also pay for 3 streaming services that go unused, and this covers about half or maybe 3/4 of what I watch.
Streaming is in a dangerous place when piracy works better, looks better and is more convenient.
Maybe I didn't "steal", but I contributed to criminal activity.
Sure, copyright laws can seem absurd, but if you disagree with the laws, consider the ethics.
How would you feel if you have a business, I steal from you, and then go give random people your content? This especially when it starts to drive into your revenues.
"Only digital copy" is disingenuous. If the cost of producing the digital copy is say $40mm (an amount article says some Netflix movies can cost).
They're making copies from a digital copy, and their business is to sell access to them. If their model is "we'll replicate this copy 500 million times, and charge users $0.10 a view", every 10 copies viewed elsewhere is $1 lost.
Should a service raise the fee to say $0.12 to better cover costs?
Ultimately, theft is often subsidised by paying customers.
I'm also guilty of this. I download torrents where:
* I can't buy something because it's not available due to region restrictions, and I can't buy it via VPN (looking at Disney+)
* I can't buy it anywhere altogether.
Where I used to download maybe 50 torrents a year a decade ago, I probably do it <5 times a year now. It's stealing, or consuming stolen content.
The pricing strategies of big corp is a separate accessibility issue.