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Posted by Grue on 12/06/07 17:34
Sean Black <sean@bucks-aggs.demon.co.uk> wrote in news:P3x2Lrmxc
$VHFw9K@virgin.net:
> There are always going to be pirates, but if the studios/record
> companies put out a decent product at a reasonable price
<snip>
Thats primarily the problem. When something is profitable and popular,
everybody want a piece of the pie. That's what the writer's strike is
about now. Instead of being able to offer something to consumers at a
reasonable price, everybody piles on their fees onto the cost, and the
end product ends up being more expensive than the end consumer is willing
to pay. A blank CD or DVD doesn't cost that much, and many of the
companies own their own media producing facilities and manufacturing and
duplication plants, and outsource the printed media (sleeves, inlay
sheets, booklets, etc) to Canada and Mexico where the labor is cheaper as
a cost cutting measure, so the product itself really only costs a couple
of dollars per copy to manufacture, but after distributors and executives
chip in for their share, and everyone elses contracted portion gets taken
into effect, the item that could be sold for $7 and still turn a profit
ends up retailing for $19.
Now of I can make a DVD at home for under $4 with middle of the road
equipment, why can't they with top of the line stuff?
Same thing goes for CD manufacturing. The most expensive thing is the
case, and the artist themselves only get a quarter for every copy sold,
so why does this thing that costs $2 to maufacture cost around $14 to
buy? Who is getting that other $11.75? Some fat-ass record exec who had
no creative influence on the record getting made at all? Some
distribution company that hires fat-ass dirty truckers who drive like
maniacs to get them to the store?
If I like something enough, I'll buy it, despite the availability of
bootlegs. Sometimes, I've bought the movie after having the bootleg for
several months. I really like having the original artwork and bonus
materials. So why did I obtain the bootleg in the first place? Well, I
don't like paying $10 per person to go to see a movie multiple times in
the theater. I've got 6 people in my family, and even if I go a little
skimpy, a day at the movies may cost $120 after snacks and drinks are
purchased. $120 to sit in a room with dirty people with gas, fondling
each other in the dark, talking during the movie and being rude,
answering their cellphone after four rings, starting fights and being
defensive when asked to stop.
Yeah, right.
I'll watch movies I really like once in the theater, just to make sure
they make their money and continue to be able to produce films I like,
and if I do like it, I'll buy it when it comes out on DVD, for the good
picture quality and surround sound not often found on the bootlegs, and
so they again make the money, and can continue to make the type of movies
I enjoy. But between those two, I'll settle for the bootleg.
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