The expression "its all fun until someone gets hurt" is an under statement in the world of Digital Media. Sean Parker the creator of Napster , a free file sharing service that allowed users to download digital material for free , started an epidemic that would surely take a toll on the entertainment industry. Although, Napster was seized due to copyright infringement , that didn't stop others from continuing his legacy.
Over the last ten years Major Blockbuster movies and Platinum selling musicians have lost a great deal of money due to leaks and Piracy. In 2009, the long awaited Xmen-Origins: Wolverine was leaked months before its release date. Not only was the movie still in production but the green screen effects and stunt wires were not added yet. So viewers got a chance to see the movie from a different perspective which had a negative effect on peoples perception of the movie. The film company feared that this will not only lower the ticket sales but hurt the reviews due to unclear footage. From 1989 until 2005 the majority of the music industry was profiting off of album sales. Major artists such as Pink, Usher, and Eminem were at the top of the charts with albums sales over 10 million worldwide. Since the growth of Piracy aswell as the Apple companys "iPod" sales have plummted across the board. The iPod which is a portable media player allows its consumer to add as much as 5,000 songs into the device. The cost of legal downloading ranges from $0.99 cents to $12.00. If you multiply a dollar by 5,000 you get $5,000+tax. In this economic struggle the average man does not have $5,000 to dedicate to listening to their favorite songs.So the better and economically wise choice is to illegally download the favorite songs for free. Thus, when artists such as Nelly, Christina Aguilera or Busta Rhymes, who were once Platinum ( 1 million or plus album sales ) selling artist are now barely reaching gold ( up to or over 500,000 in album sales ). Less album sales means less money for the artist, the label and the overall marketing for that particular artists. Generally , a major loss in profit in any occupation, means people have to get fired, the job opportunity for that particular industry is lowered. In such occassions the main focus is put towards their strongest players. Noone wants to take a risk on a "rookie".
So what does that mean for the aspiring students in college with a career based in the industry. If the entertainment industry is no longer hiring and becoming anal as to who they want to hire, how can these students find jobs. Or better yet , How can they pay back their high college loans? Piracy has affected the way people think, and operate. Some would say the smarter move is to embrace piracy and profit from it. Bootleggers , whom of which have been around for years have come to be an illegal enterprise. no longer sneaking into movies theaters with a video camera, the common bootlegger can now download their material off of the internet and burn them to a CD. So forget about the audience walking across the screen, these downloaded movies are taken from emails and film festivals so the quality is upscale and its the same as if you walked to BEST BUY and purchased it off the racks. But how can students fresh out of college make any money? Over the last 5 years , it has been common for independent filmmakers and musicians to release their material for free. Hoping to catch a buzz and create a following they then release another body of work for an extremely low price. And this tidious process is continued until he or she has reached a level of credibility to where "Major corporations or figures in their field" catch wind of their work and hopefully offer them a job opportunity.
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