Rock star Bono, of the group U2 made some interesting quotes today, in regards to illegal file sharing and the music and movie industries.
“The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files,” says Bono, adding that in just a few years, bandwidth will be so abundant, and connections so fast that entire movies can be downloaded in under a minute, regardless of size.
“A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators — in this case, the young, fledgling songwriters who can’t live off ticket and T-shirt sales like the least sympathetic among us,” he added.
Bono does believe that Internet content can be tracked, and cited the US’ effort to stop child pornography as well as China’s to suppress online gaming and pornography.
“Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly four percent of gross domestic product,” Bono concluded.
Result for: movie industry
Richard Craig Lissaman of Calgary has become the first Canadian convicted under new movie pirating legislation for his decision to film the movie “Sweeney Todd” at a local movie theater last year.
Lissaman pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to 12 months probation and a large fine of $1500 CAD.
The guilty party is now also banned from going to any movie theater as well as from owning video recording equipment (including a cell phone with the capability) while he is on probation.
Judge Skene said that Lissman’s crime was comparable to someone shoplifitng a cart of meat knowing that they will resell it for a profit.
“You can say he and his pals will watch the movie, but he has an item that is more supportive of taking something to be used to make a profit,” said the judge.
“It’s not a simple theft of an item for personal consumption.”
The motion picture industry was delighted by the ruling and admitted they spent six months investigating before having the authorities arrest Lissaman.
“Canada is a hotbed of movie pirating, which is a billion-dollar loss to the movie industry,” Mark Christiansen, executive vice-president of operations for Paramount Picture’s motion picture distribution.
“The perception is that Hollywood stars are the only ones hurt by this, but it affects everybody who works in theatres.”
Virginia Jones, director of policy and legal affairs for the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, added, “We would have liked to see jail time, sending a stronger message. We hope this is just a starting point.”
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Result for: movie industry
Despite massive campaigns to inform the public of the dangers of piracy and its effect on the world economies,the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has posted on their website that 2007 saw new all-time highs for both domestic and global box office sales.
The MPAA’s own data figures show that the global market grew almost 5 percent$26.6 billion USD, and the US market grew 5.4 percent to $9.6 billion USD.
“From the threat and eventual reality of a writer’s strike to the global impact of film theft to concerns over the economy, the film industry faced significant challenges in 2007,” stated Dan Glickman, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA. “But, ultimately, we got our Hollywood ending. Once again, diverse, quality films and the timeless allure of the movie house proved a winning combination with consumers around the world.”
According to recent studies by the Institute for Public Innovation, movie piracy costs the US economy $20.5 billion annually including revenue loss and “related measures of economic performance.” The study goes as far as to say that the movie industry could have added 45,000 new jobs had it not been for piracy. Funny how BO sales can grow at a steady pace despite the fact that the economy is seeing a “$20.5 billion USD annual loss” right?
