Whodathunkit? Media barons slit own throats in flawed piracy crackdowns

Err.

In other news bear shits in woods.

The recording industries entire model is like something thought up whilst smoking crack and yet so many governments support it to already ridiculous levels

As an example picture someone who is unemployed, a student on a bursary or someone who is still at school in fact we can now include millions of families who with the current cost of living have literally ZERO disposable income after paying their basic bills and food

The recording industry claims that if any of those download lets say 10 films in a month they have "stolen" $50-100 from them based on what they WOULD have spent IF they had gone and watched them at the cinema, bought them on DVD/CD or if they had paid to stream them

But as none of those people would, at any point in that month have had $5 let alone $100 to spend on luxury items then they would still have spent zero on that media whether or not they could or couldn't download it meaning the recording industry is out of pocket to the exact figure of zero dollars

There SHOULD be some actual proof of actual loss when someone is being prosecuted instead of the recording industry just trying to blame someone else for their own demise due to their own inflexibility. overpricing and inability to realise what dinosaurs they are

It should also be noted that a LOT of people have a fixed budget they spend per month or week on games, music, films etc but because of how much overhyped drivel there is in all forms of media what many do now is to watch several films or play several games before deciding which ones to spend their hard earned and FIXED amount of money on as there is no returns policy when you spend $15-60 on a film or game and find out its total crap and NOTHING like the adverts and magazine reviews claimed

Another bogus aspect of this nonsense is TV programming where all people are doing in many cases with that is downloading a show they are already paying for via cable or satellite BUT where they want to watch it when THEY want to watch it and on their PC whilst doing other things rather than having to sit on the sofa to watch it and because its just easier that streaming services. Other times its a show that WILL be on a station they pay for, but is shown months earlier in another country which nowadays is completely ludicrous

So again they pay a fixed fee whether they watch those shows or not, the networks aren't being deprived of a penny of extra revenue despite claiming otherwise and we once again have quite bogus financial injury claims where none exists

I am not saying there is NO loss to the industry, but I do honestly believe that the majority of profits are due to their own mismanagement and inability to move with the times

Its wholly ridiculous for ANYONE to justify earning $50 million dollars for acting in a film, and that sort of wage is a large part of the cost of the making of programming and music that then reflects in the price

If no movie studio paid more than $2 million actors would have to choose between earning what is already a LOT of money or getting a job at starbucks. And I bet I know which they would choose.

This would not only mean the industry could MASSIVELY reduce the cost of films, music, TV subscriptions making far more people not only ABLE to afford them, but also likely to buy them in greater numbers BUT it would also mean theres more scope for profit and therefore investment in future content

Instead wage bills in all aspects of the industry spiral upwards like its a race and the consumer is then blamed for choosing to opt out of paying those increasing prices when the actual quality of content is declining noticeably as the price increases and it becomes like paying Faberge egg pricing for a standard poached egg that is highly likely to be undercooked anyway

Whoa. Déjà vu.

A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.

Since everyone else is ranting

I just wanna digress and complain about those fuckin' cable/satellite broadcasters like Sky who fuckin' force you into paying for those expensive channel subscriptions, subscribing to "OMG over 500 channels!!", even though you just want to watch half of a dozen. South Park got it right.

Streaming is a bad substitute for downloading. With my connection, I'm unlikely to get a reliable SD stream, and a HD stream is mathematically impossible. This is unlikely to change any time soon. And how many streaming services work with the PS3 I mostly use to watch stuff? It's pointless for studios to offer me cheap streaming, as I can't trust it to work in the first place. I wouldn't even want it for free.

And DRM poses similar problems - I can't trust it to work on my favored devices, I can't trust it to work ten years from now, I can't trust it to be able to be backupped or carried to a friend's home to watch together. Hell, even if they somehow came up with a DRM scheme that actually works perfectly, at this point the concept is so poisoned that it'd take years before I gave it a chance.

A straight AVI is free, but the important thing is that it JUST WORKS. Drag'n'drop it on a USB key, and nearly everything on the planet will reliably play it with one or two button clicks. They need to understand that their problem is not "competing against free". It's competing against *easy and reliable*.

Stop Geo Locking

I live in North America and found some clips on YoutTbe of X-Factor Australia, so I go to its home page to watch the shows. Unfortunately, I can't as they are Geo locked for Australia residents only. If I want to watch them, I have to find a non sanctioned stream.

The next tthing is that the songs sung on the show by the contestents are advertised as being available on Itunes, but when I go to Itunes to buy them, I find they are only available on Itunes in Australia.

Reece Mastin, the winner of X-Factor Australia from a couple of years ago just recently released an album, which I bought on Itunes in North America. If I had not been able to see and hear him singing when he was on the show, (er from Youtube clips) I would not have known who he was, and they would have lost a sale.

So why are they Geo locking content when it is resulting in missed and lost sales?

I dont like the blockbusting shit heaps that Hollywood pumps out anyway. The kind of films I like have a story. Yes people a story thats not ridiculously predictable. Id much rather watch that at home with my missus or friends. My rather humble home cinema system cost me about 600 quid. Its more than adequate. Fuck cinemas.

And upon further reflection maybe if they werent paying actors spastic amounts of money they wouldn't be so expensive to make. Its so expensive now that they simply look for a format that the retarded general public like and run with it. Over and over again. Such a shame.