How Pirates Are Born
























Susan Kaye Quinn said...

I heart this post on about four different levels. And having had my book pirated, it's tested my belief that fighting the pirates is just a giant time-and-energy suck that I should steer clear of like the black hole that it is. But I make my book available just about everywhere possible (except bookstores! Because they don't allow it! Ah, but there's no profit for the pirates there ...) - so I'm fairly certain that the easy-on-the-eyes Will Turner's of the world are not pirating my stuff. It's the scurvy dogs. Who wouldn't pay my (very reasonable) price anyway. So, I'm back to ignoring it and moving on with my life (and writing more for the righteous Commodores).

Also: this post isn't fair. I'm TeamWillTurner.

Matthew MacNish said...

Exactly. Or when Will owns your album on Vinyl, and CD, and has the live DVD, but he can't find his CD, and doesn't want to hook his turntable up to his laptop to make a legal recording, he might turn to bittorrent, and I'm not sure I would blame him.

This is why media should be sold as single licenses, for use in any format, and on any device. Will is your customer, make it as easy and as fair as possible for him to consume your media, and he will stay loyal. He's a good person, and he wants to do the right thing.

Charmaine Clancy said...

You make pirates sound cool again :)
Wagging Tales

Steve MC said...

Well said, sir!

MattyDub said...

I can't help but feel that you wrote that whole post just to use the word "savvy". Well played, Adam Heine, well played.

Angela Brown said...

I do believe that the governor and Will could reach and accord if only they could just savvy that they have the same goal in mind: ensuring the best end result for the governor's daughter. But perspective is the mother of confusion.

lindsay kitson said...

They block Canada because it's totally a pirate's haven. They're trying to pass the same type of bills here as SOPA, but they haven't managed it yet. But the percentage of the population who has access to personal computers is higher in Canada than most countries. I'm sure the geo blocking has something to do with it too, but the geo blocking is a joke. DRM is a joke, and you're totally right - it doesn't stop people from pirating, it only stops them from making legal purchases. :(

Adam Heine said...

I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Adam Heine said...

"They block Canada because it's totally a pirate's haven."

Interesting. I never thought of Canada that way.

But you're right that this reasoning is foolish. Geo-blocking and DRM are ridiculously easy to get around. Using these to block a whole country only makes more pirates.

Melodie Wright said...

I AM Will Turner...and here I thought I was Elizabeth. Dang.
Love this analogy - totally helped my wee little brain to understand this issue. Thanks!

Keriann Greaney Martin said...

"When you don't release something in a foreign territory, you are only removing the pirates' competition."

You are so smart. It's true, if there's a TV show I want to watch but they don't have it on their website to watch old episodes or On Demand, I end up searching for it in other places even if it seems a bit fishy. I just want to see it because I'm a fan. Plus it was already provided for free on TV.