The Impact Of Piracy
WRITTEN BY KANE FELIX RITCHIE
Everybody has pirated something – and if you say you have not, then you are lying to yourself. In 2022, 20% of the UK population using the internet used it for watching pirated films and TV series. Whether whatever you wanted to watch was not available where you are or you could not afford to renew your Netflix subscription for the month. But does that make it okay?
In this current information age, pirating films and TV shows has become easier than accessing clean water, thanks to sites like 123movies. Each time one of these sites get taken down, it feels as if another two get put up. And due to this endless supply of illegal streaming sites, piracy has become a mainstay in the film industry. The Amazon Fire Stick, which allows for users to stream Amazon Prime on whatever they plug their stick into, had been modified to allow for users to watch illegal streams of whatever they wanted, namely the Premier League. This resulted in the arrest of two individuals, who orchestrated the scheme, resulting in a wealth that amassed over £1 million. Despite these arrests, and the countless warnings that individuals who pirate content receive, the act of piracy continues. But honestly, can you blame them?
Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime were created in response to the bloated mess that cable TV had become, with their hidden fees and over the price cost to not even be able to watch your favourite shows on demand. So, it made sense that these streaming services would catapult in popularity, but in recent days, these streaming sites have become the very thing they swore to destroy, with ever-increasing prices and especially with Amazon Prime adding forced ads to their basic subscriber tier. In an economy as volatile as the one we are living in; can you blame consumers for wanting to cancel their subscriptions and simply pirate the same TV show they could watch for free?
Accessibility also plays a huge impact on piracy. If a film isn’t in the cinemas, isn’t available for purchase and isn’t on any streaming services, should pirating it be allowed? I think it should – how else will you be able to watch it? Should consumers wait for the off chance that they become available? Sometimes, a film will only be available in a specific region on Netflix, and users can use VPNs to change their location to the region where the film they want to watch is available, without being there, counting as a form of piracy. If you pay for Netflix already, is this morally wrong? They are still paying the money so it’s not like they’re losing out.
Thanks to the inflation of this totally great economy, cinema tickets have been rising exponentially to the point that watching the latest blockbuster will cost an upwards of £15. Add the cost of cinema food and the cost to travel to the cinema, and you’re suddenly spending £30 pounds just to watch a 2-hour boring action flick. How can that be sustainable? It’s far easier and cheaper to just go on a piracy site, microwave some ramen and chill out in the comfort of your own home. If cinemas want to combat piracy, they need to lower the price of the tickets – but if they lower the price of the tickets, will they be able to make enough money to survive? I don’t really have a solution; I'm just a film student frustrated by the price of tickets, to the point I've considered just pirating films to save money.
But when you illegally stream something, who is on the short end of the stick? Whilst you may think it is the executives and shareholders who are harmed, the harsh reality is that they won’t suffer. They’re already rich. A loss in revenue for these companies only mean that loads of jobs will be lost, typically the lower paying ones, the ‘average Joe’ if you will. The Motion Picture Association noted that ‘piracy has been estimated to reduce employment in our industry between 230,000 and 560,000 jobs’ every year. In a post-lockdown world, where the film industry never recovered, these job losses create massive uncertainty on whether this industry will stand the test of time.
The biggest victim when it comes to piracy are indie creators – whether it be in the film industry or any other. Films cost to make money, and if these creators aren’t getting any many due to their content being illegally accessed for free, then there is no sustainability in the practice, therefore making this industry inaccessible for them.
As a student this issue is particularly important to me as it will be something that I potentially face in the future. As a student with limited funding, if I were to attempt to release and monetise an indie film, and it was pirated, I would lose out on a lot of money, which would make it unsustainable to continue doing.
Whilst I can’t stop you from pirating, it is essential to know what the effects of piracy are. Pirating independent media is only gonna harm the industry, and you should always aim to support independent cinema. Pirating content from services like Netflix, whilst still a crime, is understandable if you cannot afford to pay for it.
At the end of the day, ensure that you make informed decisions about piracy.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/291300/illegal-digital-film-consumption-in-the-united-kingdom/
https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/iptv-bust-firestick-premier-league-scheme/