A poster worth 1,000 words
I was in New York last week and saw the MPAA's new poster urging people not to buy counterfeit discs. Dunno if anybody reads posters in the subway, but I have to say, I love this.
The ads also urge people to dial 311 to report bootleggers, nearly 80 of whom have been arrested this year just by New York transit cops. Now if they can just get the folks selling discs in and around the stations to adopt this labeling system.... OK, OK, many bootlegs are recorded in empty theaters, with sound taken directly from the earphone jacks for the hard of hearing. So the quality often is better than the poster suggests. And yes, we can debate whether New York loses more jobs to DVD piracy than to, say, generous tax incentives for film and TV production in Connecticut and other states. But you've gotta respect the absence of righteousness in the messaging.
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How about
"PC - Perfect Copy"
This bootleg DVD is a bit-for-bit perfect digital copy of the genuine retailed DVD. We even leave in the FBI warning.
* No degradation in quality.
* No additional advertising.
* No "For your consideration" overlays.
* 100% compatible with all DVD players.
* No money wasted on DVD case and cover printing.
If bootleggers around stations adopted that labelling system and let punters quickly check the DVDs out on a portable DVD player, they'd do far better.
Unfortunately for DVD bootleggers, the market for copies has ended.
A bootlegger once came up to me and offered me a cheap DVD. My first thought wasn't "Oh no, the FBI will get me!", or even "Wow! I'll get it so much cheaper.", but "Eh? Why on earth do I want to buy a digital copy of anything?"
The value is in the art, not the copy.
So pay the artist, not the copier.
Posted by: Crosbie Fitch | June 13, 2008 at 04:36 AM