In a week when the Swedes elected the Pirate Party to Brussels it's interesting to read Phil Hawkin's blog about how he's been robbed by pirates.
I posted this lengthly post as a comment on Phil's page but thought I might as well share it here as I've not posted anything for a while :)
Unfortunately piracy is here to stay and is going to get worse. The only thing limiting it now is spread of broadband and technical knowledge.
To the person "yomamma" who writes they're an avid fan of media so should they miss out because she can't afford the DVD?. LOL Are you kidding me? Would you think about going into a shop and running out with a Mars bar shouting "but I'm an avid fan of chocolate why should I be denied?" Come on, piracy is theft plain and simple, end of story. All the other fluff and nonsense around the benefits of increased exposure is just that - a fig leaf to cover the naked stealing.
But here's the thing. Piracy is here and what motivates it is not only the desire to have something for free, it's the immediacy and convenience. Your strategy Phil should have been to make the film available as a paid download before or as the DVD came out - at least then downloaders can buy a copy to watch there and then. Without making the paid download available you're not satisfying a need.
Unfortunately just as we get the Government we deserve, we get the films we deserve. Piracy is killing the industry - no doubt about it. Distributors have gone out of business and retailers are dying too. All that's going to be left is PG films that the advertisers are prepared to sponsor and Hollywood blockbusters from major studios who can make their money on merchandising and licensing.
For indies it's almost game over. There's a lot of talk about building a community around your movie and building a fan base etc and some will be able to do this but most won't because doing that marketing work takes a special set of producing & social media skills that haven't typically been those of the filmmaker.
For those that talk about the donation model - that's f**ked too. Look at the example of Steal This Movie - 2 million or more free downloads and only $40k back (maybe it was £40k?). I suspect that some of those downloaders were like me - downloaded with good intention to watch but still haven't got around to it yet :)
Phil, my recommendation is quickly make it possible to buy a downloadable version of your movie - there's lots of options, including download to burn the DVD. Check out my latest feature http://www.mind-flesh.com to see what we've done. I'll be honest with you, our DVD is outselling the download but folks are buying downloads - thank you everyone :)
You can't beat the piracy Phil, wrong though it is and there's no appealing to anyone's good nature or better judgement. You've got to go with the flow and make money in spite of it.
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