The internet has opened the door to may different forms of communication and information sharing. Most of it has been positive, allowing for people all over the world to communicate more effectively, yet one big negative that has stemmed from internet connectivity is illegal file sharing and file torrenting. Something that can be done so anonymously like illegal file sharing is hard to regulate, and with more and more sites providing illegal file downloads becoming available to the public the government needs to start implementing some different strategies to help draw people back into paying for things such as music and movies.
1. Incentives - In my opinion, giving customers different incentives for buying a product rather than illegally downloading it is my most recommended solution to this problem. People cannot obtain incentives by illegally downloading files, and depending on what the incentive is, it could really help drive people to legitimately buy the products rather than steal them. Incentives could even help promote the company and lead to more sells, thus being great all around.
2. Price Reduction - While it may lead to a decrease in profit, reducing the prices of things like music and movies could help increase the amount of people actually buying the product rather than stealing it. For example, people consider the prices of individual songs on sites like iTunes to be a bit too expensive for their taste, even though iTunes is a safe and easy way of getting most any music someone would want. By dropping the price a bit, people have more reasons to purchase the songs on iTunes, leading to increased purchasing patterns and better sells after a while.
3. Stricter Internet Surveillance: While most likely a bit difficult to implement, if ISPs devote more time to surveying customer internet use to scour for illegal torrenting then they could help prevent illegal downloads. ISPs already run all internet use through their servers searching for this type of activity, but a larger focus in refining the system and issuing out punishments for doing these activities can help shut down the practice of illegal downloading.
I like the incentives idea that you brought up for your solutions because it isn't one that most people think of when they are thinking about reducing illegal downloads. I know that I enjoy getting hard copies of albums from my favorite artists because it comes with the interesting little booklet, which could be viewed as an incentive for me to buy such things. The last plus side to this concept would be that the music industry would probably be totally for the the idea seeing as how it would intrigue consumers without digging too deeply into profits.
ReplyDeleteI too think the incentives idea is what could break the compulsion to torrent versus buy. I recently bought a record player due to the fact vinyl albums are of superior quality to most anything on the internet. For those who know their music, they know that compressed MP3's take away much of the spectrum for bass and treble, creating a washed out sound when compared to vinyl. Most users don't understand this as they've grown to accept the MP3 as if it was the same as a record or CD. Usually, the records I buy come with poster inserts or other cool additives that make buying music an experience beyond simply the song. There's tons of room for little bonuses that I think would bring people back to music stores, while making them feel better about shelling out money.
ReplyDeleteI also really like your incentives idea. Many artists try to do this by releasing bonus tracks to their album only available via itunes--the deluxe version. This also is seen through the new influx of people buying records instead of CD's. Its because people see more value in a hardcopy beautiful piece of music rather than just a file download. If artists were able to add extra incentives-- be it artwork, extra tracks, a special interview, or entering someone in a sweepstakes, this would definitely encourage those to actually go out and buy the album because it would not be complete without the extras that you're paying for.
ReplyDelete