Legal Streaming Services and Their Effect on Piracy, Research Paper Example

Introduction

According to Oxford Dictionaries piracy is defined as “the unauthorized use or reproduction of another’s work.” Piracy has profoundly affected the entertainment industry since the days of Napster. Napster was the first-time piracy was introduced to the masses, more specifically music piracy. It caused an outrage in the music industry. The day it was taken offline it was already too late piracy became the go-to place for many people to get all sorts of entertainment. (Lamont, 2013) The music industry in the United States alone loses $2.7 billion in revenues and $12.5 billion in output. (Siwek, 2007) Those numbers obviously have a significant influence on the industry, and for the movie industry, these figures are no different with estimates between a loss of $3-4 billion annually. (Huber, 2011)

Not only is this topic relevant because of the high costs of piracy for the entertainment industry, but also due to the rapid increase in the use of legal streaming services like Spotify and Netflix. Spotify’s subscriber base grew by 10 million subscribers in only six months to a total of 40 million subscribers (Brian, 2016) and Netflix already has over 81 million subscribers. (Popper, 2016) These services provide secure, unlimited access to the entertainment needs of the customer for a predetermined fee a month.

This subject has my interest because I always pirated music and movies, but this changed, especially for music due to the upcoming of streaming services. I’m now a paid subscriber for Spotify while beforehand, I never even thought about spending any money in the music industry. There are many people like me who changed the way how they consume media due to streaming services and I’m curious how big of an influence it has on the piracy rates and what the reasoning for other people is to stick with piracy or change to the use of paid streaming services.

Methodology

I collected my data by interviewing two people. The interviewees were between 18 and 23 years old because individuals in this age range grew up in a time where piracy was entirely reasonable and now are in the middle of the streaming revolution. It would be interesting to see the different views on piracy and if the interviewees changed their way of consuming media during the upcoming of Netflix and Spotify. These interviews were recorded and were later transcribed to be a part of the appendix in the final research report. The most valuable information gathered from the interview will be used in the main body of the final research report.

Interview Results

The participants were asked several questions about the streaming revolution, their views on streaming and piracy and had experience with companies such as Netflix and Spotify change their streaming access habits.  The participants will be labeled Participant A- M. Larry ((M. Larry, personal communication, January 5, 2017) and Participant B-J. Jane (J. Jane, personal communication, January 5, 2017). The participant’s responses to the following questions for tracking purposes:

Question 1: How has the frequent use of free file sharing and legal streaming affected your usage since the revolution to stop piracy?

Applicant A M. Larry Response:

The legal streaming has become a daily routine because you have music as the driving factor. When I am studying or relaxing, I like to listen to free music on Spotify. I know I will not get in trouble with someone saying I accessed or downloaded music illegally. It has made me more cautious about what free legal streaming resource that I use.

Applicant B: J. Jane.  Response:

The threats about using streaming resources or using illegal piracy sites have affected my uses but not in a bad way. Some websites provide you with 10 or 20 free legal ways to get the music that you want to listen. The threats about piracy have made me a better at choosing my sources to download music.

Question 2: What are your views on legal streaming and piracy?

Applicant A Response: Piracy makes me use other streaming legal sites

Applicant B: Response: Piracy no longer a viable option

Question 3: What has been your experience with Spotify, who provides free music downloads and full access for a premium?

Applicant A Response: I use Spotify because its free and no legal hassles

Applicant B: Response: I use similar sites that are free getting away from pirate sites.

Question 4: Has the piracy legal preventive measures change your streaming habits?

Applicant A Response: Yes, moving towards legal streaming

Applicant B: Response: Yes, try to find the most reputable

Question 5: What streaming services do you currently have subscriptions?

Applicant A Response: Spotify, Hulu, Netflix

Applicant B: Response: Crackle, YouTube, Netflix, Spotify

Discussion

The legal streaming and the piracy industry has endured a massive change in underlying assumptions that is changing the Internet user’s habits. The mere fact that piracy has affected the entertainment, movie and music industry with billions lost to online piracy. However, the online legal streamers are moving away from the piracy rates, cost, and possible legal problems. The interviews of the participants show that Internet users are shifting to legal streaming options. The pirates can no longer pray on the low income or those that cannot afford the subscriptions.

The economics of piracy rates has changed because they pray on the lower classes such as low income that cannot afford the regular cost of movies, music, or access to streaming activities(Greeberg,2015). The legal streaming industry along with the entertainment industry is using strategic access for the public to battle piracy. One author Stone (2015) found that the sports industry is working with the government to provide legal sports streaming sites to give access to the public. Also, they are aggressively replacing Pirate Bay, Popcorn Time, and Kickass Torrents. Consequently, the government created software that seizes the bandwidth and the website of the piracy organizations.  The legal streaming revolution has the Internet users moving away from piracy rates, and file sharing towards reputable, safe streaming sites suggested by the “Digital Citizens Alliance” report(Stone,2015).

The authors Borja, Dieringer and Daw (2005) found that music streaming includes digital sharing, software downloads, and legal streaming that has change the attitudes of the music industry. As a result, they are studying the demographics, music preferences and buying habits of music lovers (Bloomberg Technology,2016). According to Bloomberg Technology that music industry is setting their prices based on the piracy rates.  In the global piracy market, 22% of all global bandwidth is utilized for online piracy(Go-Gulf,2011).

The music labels are developing their websites that allow free access to prevent copyright infringements (Boraj, Dieringer & Daw,2005). The days of Napster legal copyright battles are no longer a viable route to stopping piracy because of massive increases in Internet downloads has exploded.  The UK Intellectual Property Office (2015) reported that over 62% of the online Internet users are downloading video games, computer software, streamed music, and television shows. The findings support the assumptions made from the interviews with the applicants that they are utilizing legal streaming solutions.

Implications

The implications are clear the Pirate Bays of yesterday are going away. The Internet users are receiving free access to Sports, Boxing, Movies, and Music that was once forbidden for free. The government, entertainment industry, movie studies and video conglomerates are using the same strategy applied by the pirates to promote their downfall. It’s simple why to download a pirate Super Bowl game that leads to massive fines and jail time when the National Football League(NFL) is offering free streaming quality access.  The evidence points to the habits of the next generation that have expanded and changing the diverse taste in entertainment. The piracy rates are slowing disappearing, and the new age of streaming is the future. The reason that people choose piracy because they cannot afford the paying subscription options, thus they seek piracy as a way of entertainment. That tried is changing because the conglomerates are providing the same free access but with better quality.  The recommendation to the streaming industry to continue the free access that will eventually phase out piracy companies.

References

Borja, K., Dieringer, S., & Daw, J. (2015). The effect of music streaming services on music piracy among college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 4569-76. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.088

Bloomberg Technology. (2016). The music industry is finally making money on streaming. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-20/spotify-apple-drive-u-s-music-industry-s-8-first-half-growth

Brian, M. (2016, September 14). Spotify now has 40 million paid subscribers. Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/14/spotify-40-million-paid-subscribers/

Greenberg, M. (2015). The economics of video privacy. Retrieved from http://pitjournal.unc.edu/article/economics-video-piracy

Huber, N. (2011, September 02). How much income does the film industry lose to piracy? [Forum post]. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/How-much-income-does-the-film-industry-lose-to-piracy

Lamont, T. (2013, February 24). Napster: the day the music was set free. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/24/napster-music-free-file-sharing

Popper, B. (2016, April 18). Spotify now has 40 million paid subscribers. Retrieved from http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/18/11454362/netflix-q1-2016-earnings-81-million-subscribers

Siwek, S. E. (2007, August). Napster: the day the music was set free. Retrieved from http://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20120515_SoundRecordingPiracy.pdf

Stones, J. (2015). Forget the pirate bay. Use these illegal sports streaming sites to watch any game for free. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/forget-pirate-bay-use-these-illegal-sports-streaming-sites-watch-any-game-free-2093399

The UK Intellectual Property Office (2015 Jul). UK consumers give a boost to legal downloading and streaming for TV, films, and music. Department for Culture, Media & Sport. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-consumers-give-boost-to-legal-downloading-and-streaming-for-tv-films-and-music