i’m a longtime lurker and sometimes poster that made a new account to ask this. my partner, i, and my friend group recently got into an emotional argument about piracy recently. one of my friend group was casually offering to pirate a movie for my partner who was looking at movies to buy on a videogame console storefront, and my partner took it very, very personally for reasons i don’t entirely understand. my partner called us all disgusting and entitled and said we didn’t value art, and made it really personal saying they would be heartbroken if the managed to make an indie movie and nobody would pay for it. the rest of us were very hurt and offended at being called entitled and being accused of not valuing art. my partner refused to even hear us out, saying that neither side could possibly change their mind and that we should never talk about it again and that they regret being open about their feelings, which makes me very sad. i want them to be open and honest. but i think they have media industry brainworms really bad and i don’t know what to do. i guess i’m looking for advice or sources on what impact piracy actually has on artists, especially new or emerging artists. i feel like my partner’s fixation on the economic aspect of art devalues art and humanity. i obviously think artists deserve to have their needs met, i think everyone does. but i’m not going to cry about christopher nolan making less money than he hypothetically might have, even indie artists i dont think deserve more money than others just because they are lucky enough to be doing what they love instead of a fucking miserable minimum wage daily grind soulcrush. i don’t know how to handle this situation, i love my partner very much but this seems like a serious difference in values and perspective regarding the media industry that could have implications for how we see the world in other more important ways. my partner referred to youtube as this shining beacon of open platform content creation, just pure myopic bullshit ideology, it disgusts me to see my partner a victim to those idealistic brainworms. i don’t know what to do. i’m worried this conflict will reopen down the road. sorry if this is the wrong comm or anything. i probably need relationship advice just as much as piracy advocate resources and/or relevant theory.
The most foundational principle of communist theory is the abolition of private property. The distinction between that personal property being things you use and private property being things you don’t use but restrict others from using for profit. Copyrighted works are private property. Copyright should be abolished.
Respecting copyright is liberalism. Saying that we should respect the copyright of small artists while not respecting the copyright of large artists, is the same liberal line of thinking that small businesses are somehow better than large businesses.
Working class artists sell their labor. Most artists don’t receive much money from media sales. Media sales money goes mostly to the record label or publisher. Most artists work for a salary or get payed by selling their labor through live performances. Copyright exists to protect the bourgeoisie, not the proletariat.
As far as I’m concerned, copyright infringement is fair game as long as you’re not making money from it. If you want to support a small artist, give them money, but still you don’t have to respect copyright.
Maybe someone can dig up sources. I don’t have time to atm. But piracy increases media consumption and those who pirate are also more likely to buy.
Anecdotally, if I pirate a game and don’t enjoy it, but it was a more indie title, I’ll still go and buy it if I have the money.
One time some dude at a bar was giving me a hard time for “not supporting devs”, so I looked up one of the pipeline artists for the corporate studio on LinkdIn, asked for her Venmo, paid her the MSRP for the game, and then showed the guy. I said, “and none of that went to the executives who didn’t do the work, so in a way, I’ve supported this game more than you ever have.” And of course, he still thought I was an asshole who “didn’t support developers”. And he was right about the asshole part But it quickly became clear that he was upset that I didn’t support the company itself. It’s bootlicking all the way down.
That last one is probably not a great anecdote for your partner, but goddamn it really lays bare how much the whole “support artists” thing is bullshit for so many people
my partner refused to even hear us out, saying that neither side could possibly change their mind and that we should never talk about it again and that they regret being open about their feelings,
:cringe:
I hate arguing with people like this when they’re the ones who start the damn thing
Easiest solution don’t pirate independent movies (which means they cost less than 2-5 million bucks, and you have not heard of them). Any movie with typical budget has some porky sitting beside it, and all cameraman and set caterers won’t get your 2 cents of proceeds, it will go to some studio. All money has already been spent in other words :shrug-outta-hecks:
Music is more complicated, but band camp exists to more directly support small artists
