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Just two weeks on from relatively extreme plans proposed for the EU's new anti-piracy measures, an old study ordered by the European Commission has been revealed stating that there are no explicit links between piracy and sales. Findings from this study were revealed last year, however, albeit paraphrased to suit the intentions of the study in the first place.
The study, ‘Estimating displacement rates of copyrighted material in the EU’, was commissioned in 2013 for €360,000 ($430,000), aiming to establish a connection between piracy and the possibility of diminished sales of copyrighted material such as film & television, video games, music and literature.
Conducted throughout 2014, details of the study eventually came to light in 2016, with a very short segment of the 307-page document concluding that blockbuster movies can be negatively impacted by piracy. This specific part of the study estimated that ten downloads were leading to four less cinema visits, reducing sales for specific films by up to 4.4 percent. This went on to claims that cinema was being damaged by piracy.
What wasn't revealed at the time, is that while 51 percent of adults and 72 percent of minors have illegally downloaded or streamed a copy of copyrighted material, “no robust statistical evidence of displacement of sales by online piracy.” Regarding games specifically, it was concluded that unofficial access to the title might actually lead to sales down the line.
These details were kept hush by the European Commission until EU parliamentarian Julia Reda submitted a freedom of information request in July. The commission initially delayed this act twice before finally revealing the information. Reda notes that the EU has been pushing its agenda, trying to implement spy filters via ISPs to monitor user-uploaded content which could explain the lack of forthright disclosure on such a study, deeming that the results were inappropriate for the outcome it wished for.
“That does not necessarily mean that piracy has no effect but only that the statistical analysis does not prove with sufficient reliability that there is an effect,” according to the report, but the study does definitively conclude that “willingness to pay” does not change in relation to decreased price. People are either willing to pay or they aren't.
The report is now available to the public, coincidentally coinciding with the body's obligation to release it to Reda a year and a half after the study was conducted. If you wish to read it, you can find it here.
KitGuru Says: It's understandable that the EU body still has an obligation to protect copyrighted material for the copyright holders. This is integral for continued revenue for both the creators and the countries but if sales are mostly unaffected then it should be re-evaluating its aggressive and frankly, intrusive approach.
There have been tons of studies about this, Always the same answer: piracy impacts less then 5% for the rights holders. Its logical: people have X amount of money and spend Y amount of money on entertainment. The pirated stuff is stuff that they would not buy.
Now compare this to how the big companies think. If someone pirate X for 100000 times. In their math: They have lost x times 100000. Totally insane thinking. Funniest thing is how much money RIAA and those companies spend. RIAA gets over 500 million dollars year. Probably more than piracy impact them.
Something most westerners dont think about: For example EU prices on games is 60% higher than the average price in the world. Taxes is a small part, the big part is that companies price stuff higher after regions. This also impacts piracy, My Thai iTunes a music full price track cost 30 cent. My home Swedish iTunes the same track cost 1.5 dollars. Album in TH under 3 dollars. Sweden 20 dollars. No wonder EU / west pirate. The higher prices = more piracy. The more piracy is abused by government /companies: The more dangerous stuff happens. Before internet piracy the maffia had pirated tapes/DVDs all around the world. Gone for years but making a comeback thanks to making it harder to “pirate”.
Last: The attitude to piracy is different west/other countries. Why are western countries so bought by the corporations? Why does USA laws impact EU citizens? Its insane. Imagine if other countries laws and they tried to force US citizens to follow it? It would be war. In East Asia countries: They dont care about piracy of foreign products. Why should them since it does not impact the own countries companies? That is a healthy way of thinking. Why does EU spend billions making US companies rich? We in EU dont win on it. A country exist to make it better for its citizens. Something west have forgotten thanks to brainwashing “we are all the same and should remove countries and live in a huge kibbutz”.
If pricing was fair and content could be accessed easily then there would be no need to pirate. The most recent example is the new Star Trek Discovery series. It aired 24 hrs earlier in the USA than in the UK, and as a result anyone who doesn’t want to accidentally see a spoiler has to hunt online for an illegal stream. Yea, it comes out on Netflix a day later (spoilers) or you could sign up for another streaming service that only carries one title you want to watch (cost & effort) but who is going to do that, that is neither easy nor priced fair. There is no need to hold back the release 24 hrs other than to try and sell the new streaming service and all it has really done is encourage fans to pirate the content.