Is It Really Better Late Than Never?
With the internet more rife with pirates than a Johnny Depp movie, we all know illegal downloading exists, and Irish ISPs and their reactions to sites like The Pirate Bay have been hitting the headlines over the last few weeks. The music industry in particular are doing their best to clamp down on piracy and illegal downloads, but let’s be realistic: internet piracy will probably never be completely eliminated, at least not until the ultimate cause gets nipped in the bud. So is piracy the result of consumer greed, or in some ways, have the entertainment industry been too slow to move into the digital age and created a situation of their own delayed action?
While we can assume that there will still be a group of hardcore illegal types who will download content regardless of availability, the entertainment industry isn’t doing itself any favours with some drastically disparate release dates around the world. In some cases, it’s understandable: there’s often language issues and things that need translating, but it’s also the case that the same album will, for no apparent reason, come out here in Ireland before or after appearing on the shelves of our UK neighbours. When it comes to the big screen, the delays are even more obvious, with the exact same movie taking months to traverse the Atlantic.
Such is the case with Pixar’s Up, which we can expect to see in cinemas mid-October, coinciding with the inevitable mid-term break from school’s and ensuring that the film will maximise its audience within the kiddiesphere. But the same movie was released in May over in the States, and by the time it hits screens over here, will already be in the homes of our American cousins. To be fair, the film was seen in Europe first (at Cannes) but what interest the premiere generated amongst those of us who don’t have seasonal holidays will probably have passed by October. It’s a bold move for Pixar, with their last movie Wall-E proving much more successful with adults than with kids, the same adults who have probably either already downloaded the film, or will be steering clear of the cinema on opening week until they can see the film in peace.
There’s a similar delay with District 9, opening next week in the UK and Ireland at which stage it will be winding down in American cinemas after three weeks riding the top of the charts. The blogosphere was hopping when the film opened, praising its dark story and effects, but all that’s died down now. It remains to be seen how the film will open over here, but no amount of TV ads will sell the film more than a personal recommendation, especially when your date’s going to prefer to see The September Issue.
These delays aren’t just confined to movies, and there’s been a long-standing rivalry between the UK and Irish music industries regarding release dates of CD albums, usually hitting stores here on a Friday before the typical Monday release there. The popularity of legal downloading through Amazon or iTunes has balanced this out, with many albums becoming available on a Tuesday or Sunday, but even this delay has to affect the album’s sales. After all, if someone were to buy the physical disc on a Friday and upload it to a file-sharing service, how many downloads could be completed before the album goes legally live on Sunday? That’s not to say that many music fans won’t buy the CD, or download the higher quality product from a legal source once it becomes available to them, but how fair is it that one hardcore fan gets to listen to the album at length long before someone else can?
The entertainment industry has been quick to embrace the positive aspects of the internet, making trailers available on-line even before they’re seen in cinemas and it’s not unheard of for artists to stream new albums through Spotify, Napster or Myspace to generate some interest before they become available. But they’ve also been slow to acknowledge the double-edged sword that goes hand-in-hand with internet marketing: even by delaying the release of a new album or movie by a couple of weeks, you run the risk of missing out on the all-important hype driven by word-of-mouth, especially with people using Twitter or Facebook from their mobile phone, letting all their friends know what they think of a new movie before they’ve even left the cinema. In other words, you’re running the risk of over-selling your product, making it so desirable that people just can’t wait, and turn to the illegal source when it’s not available legally.
Some movies released this year have embraced a global release and it certainly hasn’t affected their takings at the box office: production is already underway on sequels for both Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, with the latter even falling victim to a leaked production reel and some poor reviews that, nonetheless, left its takings unfazed. Yet this leak got over a million downloads in its first couple of days being on-line, and it’s fair to say that at least some of those who downloaded never checked the film out in the cinema.
It’s potentially good news for audiences, and maybe studios will take these movies as their cue, releasing 2010’s big films in much the same way. Like all industries, piracy operates on a basis of supply and demand, and the entertainment industry should be flattered that demand for their goods is so high. But they should also learn that they’re never going to truly combat illegal downloading until they’re prepared to do the supplying.
Originally published August 26, 2009 on Culch.ie