The benefits of online content piracy?

Here's an interesting article that confirms something I have long believed: Music (and movie) piracy is not the huge problem music companies believe it to be. I am passionate about this, because I have first-hand experience with this. This applies to music and movies, I believe. From Geek.com:

"Movie industry buries report proving pirates are great consumers" by Matthew Humphries
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/movie-industry-bins-report-proving-pirates-are-great-consumers-20110720/

"GfK Group is one of the largest market research companies in the world and is often used by the movie industry to carry out research and studies into piracy. Talking to a source within GfK who wished to remain anonymous, Telepolis found that a recent study looking at pirates and their purchasing activities found them to be almost the complete opposite of the criminal parasites the entertainment industry want them to be."

"The study states that it is much more typical for a pirate to download an illegal copy of a movie to try it before purchasing. They are also found to purchase more DVDs than the average consumer, and they visit the movie theater more, especially for opening weekend releases which typically cost more to attend."

"The conclusion of the study is that movie pirates are generally more interested in film and therefore spend more money and invest more time in it. In other words, they make up some of the movie industries best customers."

"Unfortunately, we will never get to read the official version of the study as the unnamed client who paid for it to be created has decided it should not see a release."


I have long wondered why record labels don't make it much easier to try out music (partial song downloads and so forth). Looks like they're on board now, but what took them so long??? For a completely random example, see this page for SHAKIRA! :)


In my personal case, I used Napster. Yes, way back when it was in its heyday. Must have been in the late 90's, or maybe 2000. I downloaded a lot of songs. And I bought more music, much more, as a result. I would read about some obscure artist I hadn't heard of and immediately search Napster and download 2 or 3 songs. If I liked the songs, I'd buy the album. These are albums I NEVER would have bought without listening first.

In one specific case, in addition to buying the album I also went to see the artist live (in some tiny venue in Minneapolis--Minneapolis was GREAT for that). That artist was Ana D, all the way from Spain. Note that the review on her Last.fm page, from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, was the article that caused me to check her out in the first place. It was written by Jim Walsh, the best music critic I have ever had the pleasure of reading. His column alone was worth the subscription price to that particular newspaper.

Here is one of her songs:
Ana D - Todo Comenzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJAa5LQJ5Iw&feature=related

And one more:
Ana D - Galaxia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu3aVfoqzFE&NR=1

I'm having fun digging into the past, final song:
Ana D - Va El Amor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0MVb1Gevg&feature=related


Okay, so there are counter-arguments. Some people say that those who are passionate about movies or music are more likely to be consumers in all forms, whether paid or free. So if you cut off the free channels, they'll still keep paying for the other channels. I don't happen to agree with that. I mean, I'm sure it's partially true, but I believe that having access to music to try it out tends to boost sales if done well (consumer doesn't have to jump through too many hoops).

The large music companies remind me of newspapers. Giant, ponderous behemoths, too slow to react to a changing industry. They need to adapt or they will become extinct. And they won't be missed.