Avast!
There are lots of reasons to turn to piracy. Perhaps one has a fondness for shoulder-dwelling parrots and plunderin’ booty. Maybe it’s inspired by an irrational fear of crocodiles and the clocks that tick inside them. Could be that you just want a reason to dreadlock your beard.
Or maybe you just want to catch up on the first two seasons of Mad Men, and can’t afford to shell out eighty bucks.
It would seem that the biggest draw for internet piracy is the lack of a price tag — and I’ll admit it certainly doesn’t hurt. But in reality the main reason to pirate isn’t it’s free-ness, but the freedom that it offers, specifically freedom of choice.
The real draw to piratebay.org isn’t that you can get anything for free, but simply that you can get anything.
But choice isn’t the only freedom we want.
Who doesn’t love analogies? I regularly torrent music, but I also buy a lot of CDs. I torrent to test an album. If I really like it, I’ll go to Plan 9 records and buy it. And while I want to support the artist and local business and all that jazz, that’s not why I pick up the CD. I buy the CD because I have a CD player in my car, and I don’t have a burner.
As outdated as it may be, in this case a CD gives me the most freedom when it comes to how and where I enjoy the product.
This is what Hulu gives me: freedom on many levels. I can watch what I want, when I want, where and how I want to. In brandspeak, freedom is its core competency, and what is quickly making the Hulu brand a first choice for televised content.
Piracy offers freedom, but there’s danger on them thar seas. Cannonballs have been replaced by spyware. Computer viruses are the new scurvy. The MPAA and the RIAA are like the Spanish Armada or Peter Pan or whatever else is antagonistic to pirates.
Point is, there’s plenty of reasons not to pirate — as long as there’s other options. And for millions of broke college students and new families who can’t afford a DVR, or even cable — but do require an internet connection — the limits of television are making it a less viable option.
But we will get our content. Oh yes. We will get our content.
There’s one thing that’s common to all pirates, software or peg-legged: we don’t have any sort of moral qualm about the booty plunderin’. My generation was raised by Napster. We were indoctrinated early.
So, as long as Hulu carries what we want to watch, we’ll keep tuning in, and continue to be exposed to revenue generating advertising. We don’t mind the commercials — maybe even more commercials — we just want the freedom. It is far and away the best solution to piracy, and don’t just take my word for it.
But take that freedom away and millions of ad dollars will walk the plank. Y’arr.
– Adam Gardner
Enough pirate metaphors, part 3 please. –>
