MediaBerkman

Radio Berkman 150: Regarding a Cease-Fire on Piracy

April 22nd, 2010

How could pirates and the content industries learn to get along? In many contexts they are beginning to get along quite well.

Some in the film, software, and music industries are finding ways to use pirate markets to their advantage — rather than simply using law enforcement to shut them down. Recent research is showing that pirated versions of films, software, and albums actually are reaching a market that wouldn’t otherwise be purchasing these goods legitimately — whether due to cost or general inaccessibility.

Joe Karaganis of the Social Science Research Council gives us the scoop on piracy in developing countries.

Listen:
or download
…also in Ogg!

Reference Section:

• Joe at the Social Science Research Council here
• Joe’s recent talk at the Berkman Center here
• Joe blogs here
• APM’s Future Tense: ACTA comes out of the shadows here
• David Weinberger’s live blog of Joe’s talk here

CC Music this week:

• Ducket – Another Girl
• J Lang – Crazy Love

Photo courtesy of flickr user Just Cupcakes

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Radio Berkman 150:

Media piracy in the United States and all over the world is still a sensitive subject. , Often painted in black and white extremes. On one side you have content industries jealously guarding their property, striking back at pirates with all the force of their nearest justice system; and on the other side you have pirates who hold no regard for the livelihood of those who toil to create the videos, music, and software they copy and sell.

If this week’s unveiling of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – a new international trade regime designed in part to crack down on digital piracy – is any indication – the lines in the battle over piracy are still very much drawn.

But recent research on how pirate markets work are actually showing some benefits to media piracy.

One album copied and distributed would usually considered a sale lost for the artist and their label – under the established view anyway. However, while album sales have dropped, data shows that in some areas music industry profits are skyrocketing, with merchandise and live performance more than making up the difference. Looking at things from this perspective an enterprising artist might just want to give away their music for free, if that meant they could cash in at the shows.

And it turns out that this actually is an established business practice for artists the world over. In South Africa and Brazil, many artists drop their albums on the pirate market, building a following that can pay out big for live shows.

Joe Karaganis of the Social Science Research Council has studied how pirate markets for software, music, and film work around the globe. He joined us recently to talk about where media piracy can work, and how pirates and industry might be able to reach a cease fire.

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Entry Filed under: audio,radioberkman