Throwing caution to the wind, as we’ve already noted the power of Mark’s weblog, but the point should still be made.
Mark Evanier has a lot to say about the piracy busts at the Motor City Comic Convention:
There have been busts like this at other cons but if the accounts e-mailed to me are accurate, this one was scary in its scope and seriousness — enough to perhaps finally end the selling of pirated videos at conventions.
For those of you who don’t get to cons: There’s a thriving industry out there in video piracy…people who mass-produce videotapes and DVDs of copyrighted material in which they do not hold any copyright. Sometimes, it’s a matter of just replicating commercial video releases and selling them cheaper…or selling copies of tapes and DVDs that are now out of print. There are also those who have pirated copies of new movies not yet available on video but more often lately, the bootleggers are producing videos of old TV shows or movies taped off the air or transferred from 16mm prints. While they sometimes find and offer very rare material, the fact remains that the material is still stolen.
I’ve had a few conversations at cons with folks who traffic in this area and have been amazed at the rationales for theft. Sometimes, the defense is just that they’re not making a lot of money off these videos… which may be true but, you know, stealing small is still stealing. Sometimes, one hears the notion that it’s not ignoble to rip off Time-Warner or Disney because, let’s face it, those companies make skillions and perhaps are not always 100% honest in their pursuit of profits. Above and beyond the obvious flaw in that argument is the fact that the video pirates rarely spare the small producer or filmmaker… and that even a Disney bootleg cheats “little guys” like writers and voice actors who don’t receive their contracted residuals.
The most frequent alibi is that the sellers aren’t really doing it for the money…or at least, doing it just for the money. They’re doing it as a public service since the folks who own the material in question are selfishly or thoughtlessly withholding it from the public. This is another way of saying the rights holders haven’t gotten around yet to issuing the show or movie on home video but still, it almost sounds like a valid point. Doesn’t change the fact that we’re talking here about copyright violations but it sounds good….
I guess in a very small way, I feel sorry for some of the guys who got busted yesterday. They all seem to think they’re creating product, not filching someone else’s — or if they’re stealing, they’re stealing from someone else’s bootlegs. Some of them have even put a lot of work into their editing and art direction and take great pride in their handiwork. But I don’t feel sorry enough to not think they should have known this was going to happen…and that it’s about time it was stopped.
I quote all this to point out that Mark’s argument would be a lot stronger to me if he hadn’t been putting “Today’s Video Link” on his weblog since March– like this one that he put up the day after his post from the Howdy Doody show. Or this one from the Batman tv show. Or this Abbott and Costello routine. Or this from the At Last, the 1948 Show. Or even this, redistributed without the express written consent of Major League Baseball.
Every argument Mark uses against the hawkers of videos at cons can also be made about the online files he links to. And he’s making money from it as well.
Understand: I like and respect Mark. And I happen to agree that retailers should know better than to violate copyright (I’m looking at you, Midtown Comics) and that Mark’s usage is certainly closer to fair use than what was seized by the RIAA. But I also think that when desired material is known to exist– like the JLA and Global Frequency pilots, the Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie, and the original version of Aladdin with the uncensored lyrics– and not made available except via dodgy methods, then this will happen.
And I also reiterate one of my old economic rules: a black market only pops up when the market notes a major imbalance in either price vs. perceived cost, or availability.
Interesting commentary. It seems to me that the pirate video booths are always the most popular booths at my local con.
BTW – Found my comics yet?
garbonzo
I’m on the fence about this, and I say this as a longtime con attendee…and also as a creative person who likes to make money on my creations.
Years ago, when “Ren & Stimpy” was still on Nickelodeon, I wanted to see the show. I didn’t have cable and there were no pro (authorized) videotapes available. I went to a con and there on a table were two VHS tapes containing all the Kricfalusi episodes, including “Man’s Best Friend,” which had aired exactly once and looked like it was about a tenth-generation copy.
I wanted to see the shows, so I bought the tapes.
Today, lots of shows go on pro video fairly quickly. I have the complete “Firefly” on pro DVD because it was available. I have the first three seasons of “The Simpsons” on pro DVD because they are available. I have all of “Cowboy Bebop” on pro DVD because they are available. I may buy “The Venture Bros.” on pro DVD when it comes out, because it will be available.
But I recently bought a fan DVD of the complete “Megas XLR” because I have no reasonable expectation of that show coming out on pro DVD and I wanted to have them to watch again.
Given a choice, I’ll spring for the pro DVD, but if the bootleg at the con is all I can find, I’ll buy it.
I recently bought(on eBay) what i strongly suspected was going to turn out to be a bootlegged DVD (it was). The seller advertised it as an “extremely rare import DVD”;between when i ordered it and when i received it and went to leave a feedback, the seller was apparently booted off eBay. (The DVD was of “Get Crazy”, the wonderful 1983 tribute to rock’n’roll and the Filmore and sex and drugs and rock’n’roll featuring, among others, Lou Reed, Malcolm McDowell [he sings] and Fabian and Bobby Sherman…)
If the studios had made that film available on a reasonably-priced DVD, i would have bought a legitimate copy, if only because it would have proper chaptering and possibly extra features.
(There are rumours it may actually be coming soon, in which case, i will buy the legit release.)
As soon as i can raise the money, i have a source for all of the episodes of the wonderful mid-60s weird-stories anthology series, “Journey to the Unknown”, which is not and likely never will be offered.
Again, offer it to me legitimately, and i’ll jump at it.
And so on. (If you want full original runs of “WKRP” or “Crime Story”, for example, they’ll probably always have to be bootlegs, because of music licensing issues, for instance.)
Yes, it is (technically) theft. But who am i actually stealing from, who is being harmed, if i buy these?
Am i hurting the studio? No — because they aren’t selling this stuff. I reiterate: If it were available legitimately, i’d buy it.
Am i hurting the artists? No — because the studios aren’t selling this stuff. (And even if they were, if it’s teevee or movies from before, say, the 70s, the artistes wouldn’t begetting anything, anyway.)
And what’s the ethical difference between selling a bootleg and selling a used CD, book, DVD or tape, for that matter? Again, the publisher/studio/label (and those creators lucky enough to have good royalty deals) are not getting paid.
And where do Blockbuster and NetFlix and their ilk stand, on a moral basis, since you know they aren’t gonna be paying a royalty every time they rent that DVD to another customer.
There is a lot of material that has been recorded and either never or only briefly released that i and others would dearly love to have; and as long as the middlemen in the entertainment and media businesses aren’t selling it to us legitimately, many of us will turn to underground sources.
(Have you ever heard of an Austin band called Two Nice Girls? Look up their eponymous CD on Amazon and see what it’s selling for. If it stayed out of print [as it will] and someone bootlegs it, will i buy it? Hell yes.)
(Now, selling pirated versions of material that *is* legitimately available, or stolen or off-the-books “legitimate” copies — that is an altogether different and despicable practice.
(Ask anyone in the record business if they’ll step down off their high moral horses and explain about “cleans”, or about the general accuracy of accounting on sales of “cutouts”….)
I’ll be the first to admit that there’s a fair amoung of grey area to the selling of pirated material–or its dissemination for free via the internet. In most cases, sure, it’s absolutely true that there wouldn’t be a market for these unofficial materials if the rightsholders issues official releases. But as true as that is, that in itself doesn’t excuse trafficking in bootlegs.
To this point: “Yes, it is (technically) theft. But who am i actually stealing from, who is being harmed, if i buy these?”
I reply by saying that, going back to overaching principles, if theft is wrong, then it is wrong, regardless of whether or not someone is being harmed.
(Also, one could certainly make the argument that buying bootlegs may harm the rightsholders by depressing the market for an official release, but I understand that that’s not necessarily an accepted premise.)
To this point: “And what’s the ethical difference between selling a bootleg and selling a used CD, book, DVD or tape, for that matter? Again, the publisher/studio/label (and those creators lucky enough to have good royalty deals) are not getting paid.”
One difference is that when you sell a used CD, book, DVD, or tape you’re not creating a new item; you’re re-distributing an item already (legitimately) created. That may not be a notable distinction to many consumers, but it *is* to many rightsholders. After all, copyright is, at its heart, primarily about the right to make or authorize copies of a work; whether or not one can profit off of authorizing those copies is a separate (but very related) issue.
To this point: “And where do Blockbuster and NetFlix and their ilk stand, on a moral basis, since you know they aren’t gonna be paying a royalty every time they rent that DVD to another customer.”
But Netflix and Blockbuster did buy that DVD the first time, so the rightsholder did get some payment or royalty out of the deal. And presumably the rightsholder is comfortable with those companies’ business practices, when they sold the stuff in the first place. Same thing with libraries–no, libraries don’t pay publishers and authors for every time a patron checks out a book, but they do pay to put those books in their collections in the first place, and that business is big enough for publishers to want to keep selling to them.
Yes, obviously, in the modern world there are lots of justifications for grey- or black- market sale of material. Business practices and models will certainly change in reaction to modern technology, but as true as that is, some underlying principles about rightsholders’ rights will surely remain relevant.
Two things –
1) I’m definitely in the camp that would much prefer real, honest-to-goodness official releases of the stuff I want. But dang it! A ton of that stuff will *never* legitimately see the light of day, so while I’ll never try and convince anyone it’s “okay” to do it, if I can get a copy thru some other method, I’ll do it.
B) And man, I hope you’re right about “Get Crazy” getting an actual release. I used to catch it on Showtime whenever I had the chance (but like a goober, never recorded it).
You can make a case for some of the older or rarer material, that even pessimists can agree will never see the light of a professional release (I’m not saying it should be legal, just not necessarily raidworthy). However, at most cons I see stuff that goes WAY beyond that level.
Recently, I’ve seen – Doctor Who 2005/2006. Battlestar Galactica Season 2. Invasion. Lost Season 2.
Does ANYONE doubt these will be on DVD, especially since they all have release dates. That’s when you have officialy crossed the line from ‘Fan Appreciation’ to Piracy.