Is Piracy Really Stealing? Is It That Simple?
For some reason, the idea that “piracy is stealing” has become a controversial subject online. Some people believe that there is a justification for taking other peoples work without paying for it. In this short post, I hope to address two of the common excuses used by pirates.
Copying Isn’t Subtracting, It’s Re-Producing… Right?
One view is that copying isn’t a form of theft because it doesn’t directly cost the developer/artist any money. The argument goes, “If I steal a car, that takes something of value from the original owner… but if I copy a file, nothing is lost - value is actually created!”.
Unfortunately, it isn’t this simple. The business model used by most software, music, and video companies is based around volume. This is what allows a product, that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs, to be sold at lost cost to consumers. When someone pirates a copy - it affects two groups. First, it results in real customers having to pay more (especially if they want the company to stick around and continue to innovate). Second, it results in the developer/artist making less money - providing less incentive/motivation for them to innovate or create a new product. In some cases, they simply go out of business because it wasn’t profitable for them to create the product (even if it was so popular that people were willing to steal it).
My Favorite Band Promotes Piracy, So It Must Be Ok!
Some companies/artists have started to embrace piracy. The developer of MineCraft, a popular PC game, argues that piracy doesn’t cost them sales. Other mainstream artists have made this same claim with their music.
The businesses that embrace this idea seem to believe that a one-time marketing ploy is somehow a sustainable business model. Once the novelty of “this artist promotes piracy, we should pay anyway” wears off, people will still pirate and will no longer feel the need to pay the artist for their unique view. These businesses are trying to fight fire with fire, and are simply making the problem worse.
If You Could Pirate A Lamborghini, Would You?
I like to ask people this question… “If there was a machine capable of “copying” a Lamborghini, would you think it’s ok to pirate one?”
“Of course!” they say, “why wouldn’t I?” Well, unfortunately, nobody will ever spend millions or billions of dollars creating and innovating to build that machine… because there is no money in it. If you were willing to even pay $5,000 for your new Lambo, maybe they would. This is a simple example of how piracy holds back innovation and subtly scares entrepreneurs away from creating new technologies and solutions.
Piracy is stealing - it really is that simple. It is stealing from the developers, but more importantly, from society as a whole. The fact is, if everyone pirated - developers would no longer have the motivation to innovate. While some companies may choose to use a business model of “free” - customers do not have a right to force this model on developers. If a business is selling something that you want, and you cannot afford it - that isn’t the developers fault.
It is this desire for the unattainable that drives innovation, competition, and the free market as a whole. Embrace the fact you cannot afford everything you want, and use that desire to fuel your own motivation and innovation. It will make the world a better place.
