New Zealand's Copyright Tribunal to hear first cases

viable alternative

If you want to cut down on piracy then create a viable alternative. I have friends in New Zealand who tell me that CD albums cost around $35. If you charge that kind of money for music then you will encourage piracy.

The problem the record companies have now is that pirating music is now an everyday activity. Their failure to act quickly has meant that a lot of people simply aren't going to change their ways, even when that alternative comes along.

As to the tribunal, how is the evidence tested? Do the rights holders turn up with ip addresses they wrote down on post-it notes asking for $15000?

Has reducing piracy increased sales?

I read on the BBC website a little while ago that RIANZ claimed the new rules had significantly reduced piracy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18953353

My question is: Has this reduction in piracy resulted in a corresponding increase in legitimate sales?

If not then surely the industry claims about the massive losses caused by piracy are a lot of rubbish. The losses only occur if downloaders chose pirate copies over legitimate copies, not if they chose pirate copies over not downloading at all.

I think this question is central to the whole debate over pirated content, or at least the economic side of the debate. As far as I am aware NZ is the only place which could produce the required figures to answer the question, has anyone seen such figures?

Stopped buying

Don't expect me to buy your products if you ask the Post Office to steam open my envelopes either. I'd rather your nosey parker behaviour resulted in your bankruptcy.

I still go to live gigs. The artists benefit from these but the recording industry doesn't. I can also record all the music I want by streamripping Internet radio, which as far as I know is as legal as recording off analog radio. Streamrippers are easily scriptable, so you can automate filing by artist/genre/album and track name.

From New Zealand with Love

Most people in New Zealand who download movie and music would Not have purchase them in the first place So there is no loss there,

And copying has not gone down they have just (adapted) changed tactics,

Now they use VPN, Cloud storage, but the best way is just to pass around

Your 3TB Hard Drive Full of moves and music and I think Open wifi network Sharing is catching on now.

:)

RIANZ out of touch

And have been for a long time.

The studios (TV and movie) have been looking more carefully at things, which is why DVD movies and TV series are a LOT cheaper than CDs of music. They're also introducing cheap (but not cheap enough - if you want a series it's still cheaper on DVD) downloads of older stuff.

Downloads come under the auspices of APRA (The australasian perfoming rights association), who made an offer to NZ and Australian ISPs in the 1990s of licensing unlimited downloading for $1 per user per year. I really am surprised none of the ISPs took it.

It's time the pirates bought a clue

Copyright laws exist in all civilized countries to protect artistic works. No judicial system is going to allow piracy to go unpunished. Those in denial are in for a very painful education.

Copyright holders are not the problem, pirates are the problem and they will be punished accordingly. Hating copyright holders is wasted energy and foolish as most folks understand the need for copyright laws. Ignorance is not the answer and never a good legal defense.