Could Studio Rewards Help Fight Movie Piracy?
Filed under: Distribution, Exhibition, Movie Marketing, Miramax
With no disrespect to the very serious issue of life-threatening, high-seas piracy off the coast of Somalia, movie studios have been dealing with their own version of piracy for many years now. True, no lives have been lost, but the economic costs have mounted into the billions, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, and no viable solution has been put forth to discourage individuals from illegally downloading and sharing movies, nor has any real progress been made to keep people from selling pirated DVDs on the streets and in shops. But what if studios rewarded people for not pirating movies?
According to This Blog Is Not Yet Rated, Twitter user Amanda Music wondered: "Ugh WHY IS ADVENTURELAND NOT ON TORRENTS YET?" The US distributor for Greg Mottola's Adventureland is Miramax Films, and they've been actively seeking out Tweets about the movie, as evidenced in their response to Amanda: "Cmon Amanda, don't do it. #adventureland #fbi." Amanda replied: "Okay I won't, JUST FOR YOU," prompting Miramax to respond: "Thanks Amanda. In return, I have a free Fandango card for 2 tix if you're interested in Adventureland. Just DM us for the code."
Score one for Miramax doing a good thing, but I don't recommend deluging them or any other studio with Tweets suggesting that you'll illegally download movies if you don't get a free ticket. What it points to, though, is that studios need to have greater incentives for people to get up from their computers and go to a theater.
As the recent Wolverine brouhaha showed, it's just too easy to find torrents nowadays. I think studio marketing focuses so much on the movie itself, that it ignores the communal experience of going out with your friends to have a good time. You don't get that staring at a muddy camcorder recording on your laptop in the solitude of your room, even if you have two or three buddies over to stare at it with you.
Movie marketing that reminds potential downloaders of the advantages of seeing movies in theaters could help battle piracy. My personal feeling is that many downloaders are simply curious about the movie, without any real interest in paying to see it in a theater, no matter how good it is. Others feel like they're "sticking it to the man," or that movie tickets are too expensive, or they no longer enjoy the moviegoing experience. And there's that small percentage that seeks to profit by selling pirated copies.
Studios could reward moviegoers with a discount on a purchase of that movie on DVD or Blu-ray, or maybe some kind of reward system that gives away a free ticket after submitting proof of purchase of a certain number of movies distributed by the studio, similar to what theater chains offer. I think Universal has offered a discount on movie tickets with the purchase of selected DVDs, and other studios have done this too.
What are your ideas for reducing illegal downloading and movie piracy? Do you think it's too big a problem to ever put a dent in it? Do you download movies and resent being called a criminal or a pirate?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-14-2009 @ 9:52PM
Aaron said...
I'm not a big fan of pirated movies, unforutnately this is purely due to the poor picture and sound quality and not out of any altruistic attitude.
But I still don;t understand how the cost of piracy could be 'into the billions' (unless you mean the cost of fighting piracy is into the billions, which if its true is a sad indictment of the priorities of hollywood studios). The reason piracy costs studios money, supposedly, is because pirated films are watched by people who would otherwise buy a movie ticket or pay for a DVD right?
Then why is it that everyone I know who pirates films is the type of person who wouldn't pay for a movie ticket or buy a DVD otherwise, they download heaps of films and TV shows, most of which they never even watch. How are they really different from the people recording movies of television or lending DVD's to friends which comparatively should be as illegal and as maligned as pirating. Should public libraries be equally penalised for loaning films as they are technically losing money to everyone who could potentially buy it as well?
I know the car boot/flea market/dodgy chinese copy sales are supposed to be an issue. But it only seems to be a major issue in developing countries which have practically zero box office sales anyway. I've never met a person, or even heard of one, who paid money for a burnt copy of a DVD.
Basically I continue to see absolutely no reason why I should care even the slightest about the fearsome economic scourge of film piracy. Prove to me how piracy costs studios anything.
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4-16-2009 @ 12:33PM
Leonardo Marinas said...
I think a good incentive for people to go to the movie theater is that the studios make sure that there are no leaks of the film before it is released, emphasize the difference between seeing the movie at home with poor soiund and video quality when you can watch it at the movie theater with amazing sound and crystal clear images. On the other hand, I think that the studios should create several edits of the movie, that way if they are leaked, people would never know which is the final edit, but then only in the movie theater could you watch the real one, with all of the fight scenes, car chases, whatever it may be.
4-16-2009 @ 1:05PM
Aaron said...
That's actually a quite clever idea, it would certainly mess around with the dedicated torrent and download hunters.
But it doesn't cost enough money so no studio would go for it, better to pour money into an ad campaign loosely linking terrorist funding to video piracy :-P
4-14-2009 @ 10:10PM
cough said...
Really oughta be called File Sharing. Even more so with those real sea pirates swearing against the US. It's getting confusing to read the news.
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4-14-2009 @ 10:19PM
Herbal Remedies said...
How to reduce the piracy of movies is not necessarily achieved through the normal methods, whether there is a space like the Internet which displays all sorts of resources for violating the rules imposed then the movie piracy will continue. More drastic measures in each country, and if possible a global supplier, a general regulator to impose more severe penalties for offenders but that does not happen...
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4-14-2009 @ 10:29PM
Aaron said...
Simultaneous releases of DVD's and cinema releases would go a long way. I know here in Australia were piracy is pretty bad (and considering our awful download speeds thats depressing) we get most movie and DVD releases several months after the US and even other PAL regions.
They were a big thing there around the release of Xmen 2 which I think was the first film to be released internationally and domestically at the same time.
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4-14-2009 @ 11:29PM
Joshua said...
Two ways to stop piracy....
1) Quit making movies people want to see...
2) Put jessica simpson in more movies...
Major movie star and Blond ambition Have both effectively stopped complete pirace of itself... Think about it.
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4-15-2009 @ 12:08AM
Dan said...
"Studios could reward moviegoers with a discount on a purchase of that movie on DVD or Blu-ray, or maybe some kind of reward system that gives away a free ticket after submitting proof of purchase of a certain number of movies distributed by the studio, similar to what theater chains offer. I think Universal has offered a discount on movie tickets with the purchase of selected DVDs, and other studios have done this too."
I'd have to give this some more thought, but just as an initial reaction, I like the idea you put forth above. I know that's one thing I dig about having rewards cards for my theatre, and even the bookstore...discounts, deals, and rewards. I dunno if you could eliminate it at all, with the internet being in existence, but it would certainly help. Plus, since I'm not into movie piracy, I would dig the perks just cause.
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5-19-2009 @ 9:21PM
Mishy said...
I'm down with the idea as well. I think some consumer frustration stems from people purchasing the same content over and over again. First, they purchase a ticket at the box office, then they might rent it, and finally they might purhcase a DVD, then whoops they now need to buy it on BlueRay. Can there be some thought in owning just the experience? Offering incentives for purchasing it on DVD etc would help I think. Having this content move to a more digital format makes the lines of ownership even more difficult to define, because is it fair to say you own the film if you've downloaded through your XBox via Netflix? Should you then need to pay for it yet again and again if you want to keep watching it? What about the idea of a DVD with an expiration date? For example it could be determined that the content can only be watched say....5 times before the DVD "self destructs," or something of the sort.
4-15-2009 @ 1:17AM
SlimPickins said...
Can I get a reward for not committing rape, murder, incest, armed robbery, driving under the influence, J-walking, and driving the speed limit too?
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4-15-2009 @ 11:53AM
Josh said...
I understand your argument SlimPickens but you already are getting rewards. The fact you abide by the laws (your duty) you are rewarded with things such as civil liberties and rights, therefore it all really cancels out on the whole who owes what. You abide by laws and are therefore protected by law.
4-15-2009 @ 9:58PM
Consequence said...
No, because you doing those things doesn't 'really' cost anyone any money. Unless you count your reward as NOT going to jail... I just think it's interesting how, when money is supposedly being lost, corporations will begin worrying.
Don't get me wrong, I don't illegally download and think it should be punished more severly (and accurately), but you don't see the government offering tax credits to people who go a decade without a criminal record...
4-15-2009 @ 2:03PM
TearsIntheRain said...
It was a joke.....ie, the reason people shouldn't pirate movies is the same reason they should break any other law. It's illegal. No one should need any incentives. Other than, as you say, civil liberties and rights.
4-15-2009 @ 3:12AM
Drew said...
What is really sad is that people are willing to watch a movie on a computer screen. I don't know if there is a way to stop it. Everyone I know does it and say there is no way they will get caught so maybe thats the solution. If on the news its reported a few people getting caught a lot of people would stop.
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4-15-2009 @ 7:22AM
Flor said...
Simultaneous release dates would indeed be a great place to start. I can honestly I've never pirated a movie because I just don't enjoy watching it on my computer, but when the Belgian release date for Burn After Reading kept being moved back (from July to September to November to December) and I was reading all these reviews for it the temptation got pretty great. (I eventually held on and saw it twice in a row in the theatre though.)
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4-15-2009 @ 10:27AM
Astin said...
I agree with the simultaneous release dates, although it's less of a problem in North America. There's no reason an English film shouldn't be released at the same time in every English-speaking country. An argument could be made for non-English countries as translations/subtitles/dubbing needs to be done. Just as there shouldn't be region encoding on DVDs.
As for rewarding people for not pirating, that's nuts and opens the floodgates to just the kind of abuse you suggested. But rewarding people for actually going to a movie isn't a bad idea.
Make your ticket stub worth a discount on the DVD or Blu-Ray purchase and you could go a long way in at least increasing your sales, if not decreasing piracy. Allow owners of a movie on DVD to upgrade to Blu-Ray for a steep discount (say, $5-$10 for the Blu-Ray if you trade-in the DVD), and you'd get a massive amount of overnight converts.
It might not stop the people who just download because they can, but it should increase the sales to make up for that "loss".
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4-15-2009 @ 10:44AM
Sean said...
I download movies because I feel my appetite is too big to keep up with my budget. I belong to Blockbuster online, and go to the theaters a couple times of month. But there are still more movies I need to see. A lot of times I'll download hard to find films, or just ones that I'm not sure I'll like, so not spending any money on them makes sense. And when you download an HD quality file, watch it fullscreen on an Apple cinema display, and scoot the computer chair back a little, its pretty enjoyable.
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4-15-2009 @ 11:36AM
Tizzle said...
Just a thought, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't a pirate (Somalian or not) who got into Fox studios, stole the working print of the Xmen origins, and leaked it online...If studios want people to stop watching illegal movies, they clearly need to revamp the security surrounding these prints..
Many movies that are downloaded on torrent sites or watched online on streaming sites, aren't even terrible bootleg quality cam versions, but are DVD quality screeners that are 'somehow' leaked to the public...If someone in your studio leaks a pristine DVD quality movie and I can watch it from the comfort of my own bed for the low low price of Free .99, why would I pay 15 bucks to go see it at the movies?? Dumb.
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4-15-2009 @ 7:11PM
MrRoarke said...
So long as there is a free option, any incentives to combat movie downloading will always face an uphill struggle. People download because they want to, not because they need to.
There's only one way you'll ever stop large scale downloading and that's to treat access to the internet the same as any other power utility. Scrap monthly subscription fees and charge every user according to the amount of data they download. Of course, this would require such a fundamental change to the way the Internet operates that no one would ever accept it and it's probably technically impossible anyway. The point is to compel people to either give something in return for what they want to to walk away.
Getting something for free should be looked upon as an ocassional stroke of good fortune, not something to which you are entitled whenever you feel like it.
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4-16-2009 @ 11:19AM
theotherpaul said...
Perhaps the movie studios should stop considering the audience as their "right" to have? After seeing "Let the Right One In" in a screening, and talking it up to everybody I could, to find the studio jacking around with the subtitles, my warm feelings towards Magnet flipped to feeling cheated.
Every step of making, and releasing a movie has the opportunity to let the audience feel that they are being treated as a participant and not just a money stream.
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