I'm not sure this really refutes the "ease-of-access" argument. The ease of access argument was never really suggesting that piracy occurs primarily because people find it hard to find media legally. That's obviously false. The most pirated content has always been the most popular content, and that content has been universally available …
I'm not sure this really refutes the "ease-of-access" argument.
The ease of access argument was never really suggesting that piracy occurs primarily because people find it hard to find media legally. That's obviously false. The most pirated content has always been the most popular content, and that content has been universally available in nearly every big box store in the world. The ease of access argument is all about friction. The more friction in between legal access and the viewer, the more likely they are to pirate.
When it comes to music, we've massively reduced piracy, because almost every streaming platform has almost every song. So you can pick between Apple Music, Spotify, Prime Music, etc and only really need the one.
Video, on the other hand is different. There's very little overlap between streaming service libraries, and most people feel that adding a new streaming service is a massive amount of friction. You have to see if the app is compatible with your TV/phone/computer, create an account, provide payment info, make sure to cancel if you don't want to continue after the trial, etc..
For some people, it means we just don't watch the show. For others, it means they turn to piracy. But the ease of access problem persists because the film industry has not followed the music industry in consolidating content and reducing friction (for better or worse).
Absolutely! The streaming experience right now is awful, and no improvements seem to be on the horizon. I don't pirate content, but there are things I'd like to watch but have not because I am not signing up for a zillion streaming services - and from the studio's POV, that amounts to exactly the same thing; no money moved from my wallet to their bank account.
Making appealing content is only part of the battle. Making that content easy for a potential customer to access is the other half, and that is where the studios are kneecapping themselves.
I'm not sure this really refutes the "ease-of-access" argument.
The ease of access argument was never really suggesting that piracy occurs primarily because people find it hard to find media legally. That's obviously false. The most pirated content has always been the most popular content, and that content has been universally available in nearly every big box store in the world. The ease of access argument is all about friction. The more friction in between legal access and the viewer, the more likely they are to pirate.
When it comes to music, we've massively reduced piracy, because almost every streaming platform has almost every song. So you can pick between Apple Music, Spotify, Prime Music, etc and only really need the one.
Video, on the other hand is different. There's very little overlap between streaming service libraries, and most people feel that adding a new streaming service is a massive amount of friction. You have to see if the app is compatible with your TV/phone/computer, create an account, provide payment info, make sure to cancel if you don't want to continue after the trial, etc..
For some people, it means we just don't watch the show. For others, it means they turn to piracy. But the ease of access problem persists because the film industry has not followed the music industry in consolidating content and reducing friction (for better or worse).
Absolutely! The streaming experience right now is awful, and no improvements seem to be on the horizon. I don't pirate content, but there are things I'd like to watch but have not because I am not signing up for a zillion streaming services - and from the studio's POV, that amounts to exactly the same thing; no money moved from my wallet to their bank account.
Making appealing content is only part of the battle. Making that content easy for a potential customer to access is the other half, and that is where the studios are kneecapping themselves.