by Dominic Wells

Created on: April 29, 2008

Naturally, when one thinks of piracy there are several thoughts that come to mind, depending on the person. Some people may think "Pesky Pirates, making money off the hard work of artists" while others may think "Wohoo! Free films!" The subject of how piracy effects the film industry however, brings more than one thought to mind.

Of course, in essence, by allowing thousands of people to view a film illegally, for free, at the click of a button, a pirate' (yarrr!) is damaging the revenue a film studio will receive from said film's ticket and DVD sales. However, ask yourself how many people will view a film that they are uncertain about, which is the case for many a film these days, when they have to pay an increasingly high price for the cinema ticket and an even more expensive price for the DVD. As with the music piracy issue, could you not claim that allowing people to view online acts as a testing ground for the consumer, so that they may pay money for the DVD, or go to watch another film from that director/writer/actor at the cinema at a later date? Something that they might not do if not given the chance to view a film without the risk of being ripped off.

While these arguments may hold some merit, they do not counter the fact that inherently the film industry, especially Hollywood, is a business. Denying money to a business, therefore, must surely damage it.

This leads on to what I would like to argue. The Internet, and online streaming should not be written off as a thorn in the side of the film industry, but embraced as a new medium in which this industry can flourish. If the film industry used the Internet as its tool, not only could piracy be diminished, and thus free up the $30billion or so that is invested each year in anti-piracy policy, but the revenue films make could be vastly increased through a far wider audience reach.
It is simple economics. Look at it this way; a film is made in India, another gem from Bollywood. It is one of only a handful of such films to be shown in the US for the following reasons. The target audience for these films, mainly Indians and other Asians, are scattered too sparsely throughout the States for any individual cinema to make money off screening it. Now imagine the film is available to watch online, for a small price but available with great speeds and outstanding quality. Every Asian in the world who has access to the Internet has access to this film. They would much rather pay a nominal fee to watch it in great

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