Ya know what stops piracy? A better service than what piracy provides.
this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
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It's funny how we see totally different effects there in regards to music, as all apps have almost all of the music. Spotify e.g. is so popular here that noone streams or downloads music illegally anymore. And you only need Spotify.
The solution is simple. Cave to the labels in power and be ruthless to anyone else. This way you can have the whole catalogue of music in your app while surviving economically. Until.. the enshitification becomes too strong again and we'll have a piracy revival. And then a new service pops up again, etc..
The circle of life of pop culture under capitalism.
The really stunning thing about music piracy was it was incredibly easy to do, and your entire catalogue could very easily be taken with you in your pocket and to new devices.
It’s a miracle we all decided streaming was worth it, they really did make it a better experience than pirating.
I mean now you don't even need your device anymore, the data is available from everyone's device.
I have yet to listen to all the music on my SD card in my phone. I will get around to it eventually.
After that I will test out Spotify.
I have an enormous music library on a USB drive in my car. Granted, most of the songs weren't pirated, they were ripped from thrift store CDs, but you can do the same thing with piracy
Can you imagine if you needed to subscribe to a different service just to listen to a single band? Hell right you'd be back on the high seas.
I really enjoyed "The Strike" when I discovered them on Spotify, but all of a sudden I noticed all their best songs were gone from my playlists and I found out they made specific albums/songs exclusive to their Bandcamp/physical copies, so I bought them off Band Camp.
I've always been kinda mixed on that move like, they clearly know which of their songs people really wanted, and decided to paywall them outside of a service I already pay for, which feels bad in principle. But at the same time, I like their music and I agree with them getting paid what they think they're worth.
I hove no clear cut thoughts or conclusions, but I can totally imagine different bands/artists trying to find the monetization strategy and platform that works for them and leading to bad experiences for consumers.
I think artists shouldn't primarily see Spotify etc as a source for monetization, but a way to market their music. Like putting it on YouTube. Most money comes from tours and merch anyways.
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Plus I can integrate Tidal with my local collection as if I had downloaded it and combine it all on any device wherever I am with Plexamp
nah local files with mp3s and sync it with preferred cloud services is the best
Except when the ID3 tags get all messed up and you spend a whole Saturday afternoon fixing your entire library. Granted that's how I taught myself how to program, so it's a win/win I guess.
I support piracy because it's educational. We need to invest in the future of technology by encouraging people to pirate. To that end, I propose more anti piracy ads.
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They had it. They decided three yachts aren't enough.
"you wouldn't download a car"
Fuck you yes I would. Invents 3d printing
It's like the anti piracy messages are just advertising for piracy
how else im supposed to play some arbitrary game with cars from a digital game copy?
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I mean, they could simply provide all content, in one convenient place, for a reasonable price, and on release.
That's asking quite a lot...
That’s asking for early Netflix back
Early Netflix was great. I stopped pirating. I guess it has been a good 10 years but it's back to the high seas now.
Having access to every Star Trek ever was great, but Netflix's recommendation algorithm was top notch. It gave me things I would never have sought out but loved anyway.
But since Netflix started just pushing their own shit, regardless of whether I'd like it or whether I'd already watched it or whether it was literally cancelled by Netflix it's enshittified to the point I don't know why I still pay for it.
As somebody who has been using Netflix since before they even had streaming as an option, I think a lot of people really over-inflate how good the offering was in the early years of their streaming unless you just loved watching reruns of cable television from the 90s and 2000s.
Make no mistake, the offering now is worse. But it’s not like it was truly a central, low priced hub for everything you wanted to watch.
It wasn't just the content, it was the delivery of watching whatever you chose whenever you chose and wherever you chose for a reasonable monthly fee. Even without a massive catalogue it was 1000 times better than cable and the existing services that charged stupidly high fees for on demand temporary access.
It did have a lot of movies in addition to the series though, even if I had seen most of them because they started with the popular ones.
Honestly, what I miss most about early Netflix was the insane library they had of documentaries
Good documentaries from quality sources too, like Planet Earth!
Not the sensationalist garbage they put out under their brand now.
Or Amazon putting out that dogshit Jim Caviezel right wing trash
Yeah I guess I’m overstating my case a bit. But still, when it was the place for legal streaming the piracy numbers were at an all time low. Turns out people don’t mind paying a fair sum for good availability and convenience.
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But would it disappear someday without warning? I'm not one to do a lot of pirating but the times I'm most tempted to take up the habit are when things that were supposed to be "purchased" just disappear and there's nothing customers can do about it...or when I see some crazy anti-pirating argument. The urge to do it out of spite is real.
Depends whether or not they hide some code to give them the option to remote disable your files after you've downloaded them, and if they to restrict your ability to create backup copies & play your files on devices you own.
There's no reason why they couldn't make stuff available in ways which buyers could feel confident in.
I've definitely appreciated when certain cool, open minded creators have released content DRM free but they are going against the grain of the big money platforms. But, I agree, like many things that would make the world a little cooler, there's no concrete reason it couldn't be done.
Likely going to have to be forced on the industry, by some mix of piracy, legislation, reality & artists' choices.
Meantime, convenience has considerable sway. For the generations for whom music was expensive & awkward to acquire (& who have the most disposable income now to spend on music as well as the most faith in companies), this still seems easier than pushing back.
Who would have thought people don't like being threatened?
I imagine for a lot of people an anti piracy campaign simply serves to alert them that piracy is possible and apparently so common and easy that everybody else must be doing it. They probably walk away curious about learning a new hobby more than fearing the consequences.
I like to call it the D.A.R.E. Effect.
As a man, I support this message.
when buying isn't owning, downloading isn't theft
Now I'm gonna piracy even harder
The only logical conclusion.. a pro piracy message. Yarrrrrr
It's strange that we've put so much work into DRM and yet piracy persists. Surely by now the technology would've eliminated pirates. Almost as if...
...they need better DRM / more anti-piracy laws / more digital thugs to canvas the internet looking for pirates ...? /s
It's funny how quickly stupid 17 year old me back in the 80s figured out that it was all just a pointless arms race and piracy would never subside until games got affordable. I always told myself I would go legit once I could afford it and I did. That was games. Same principles apply.
This is us v them issue...
If these clowns think I will pay for some shiti teevee while having to pay rent and food when i can get teeveet for free... they are about to find out what discretionary spending means and there is nothing they can do about it.
If they thought shiti PR would change that, these people really dumber than we thought.
The best part is that pirates don't need to sit through the bullshit anti piracy messages
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