Is Piracy Really That Bad?

Content creators love throwing out all these inflated numbers about how much money they are losing, but is it really that bad?  Of course, when someone goes out and downloads some music, they don't actually end up paying for it, thus it is stealing.  But, if the consumer can't get this music for free, will they actually end up buying it? Most likely not, especially if it is from an artist they don't really know that well.  Free music enables consumers to listen to a wider variety of music, and gives them a better chance of finding music they wouldn't have found otherwise.  This leads to them becoming fans, and ultimately purchasing tickets to a concert or telling their other friends about the band.  All of which leads to greater monetary success of the content creator.

The main point of copyright laws is to encourage content creation.  Julian Sanchez in the article Internet Regulation the Economics of Piracy (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/internet-regulation-the-economics-of-piracy/) points out that the average number of movies being released has actually been increasing.  This shows that internet piracy is not stunting the growth of the entertainment industry, and movies are still making a killing in the box offices with new movies often breaking records when first released.  While piracy is likely costing content creators some money, it also helps spread the word of a certain movie or musician.  Content creation has still been increasing, so that leads some to believe that piracy isn't having quite the negative effects that the entertainment industry says it has.


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