The battle is waged daily.
Producers vs Copy-Cats
Many fans of catfights, female wrestling, and female combat will do everything in their power to get something for free or low cost. The question is...........can you blame them?
Isn't that what consumers do?
Try to find the highest value for the lowest cost? Of course.
Many websites like Killertube.com, Youtube.com, and sites like Rapidshare, Mediafire, and many others prove that there is no end to the amount of places that you can find obviously pirated female combat clips. Many people have set up Clips 4 Sale stores and some even sell work that they are not licensed to sell.
Which brings me to my ultimate question in this piece:
Should producers seek to regulate further those who (unauthorized) resell video content owned by producers, or, should producers simply make their offerings more accessible to a wider audience?
Before I begin, ask yourself:
What is the best motivator in a market economy?
The answer is Money.
The positives and negatives of this must be mentioned. On one hand, the producers rightly feels cheated, when someone is taking the time and workmanship expended to steal and redistribute a video right out of their hands without the company's permission and/or knowledge.
On the other hand, in some cases, the producer actually benefits from the added exposure around the internet because of the property thief. The digital property thief might steal a couple of videos, not have access to them all, and then person who bought the videos through the thief wants more, and now becomes a customer of the parent company to buy and purchase more of their stuff!
It's like when the government wages a drug war.........but more people have access to drugs! Then, a black market opens. An immutable law of human nature is that the more you try to limit something................the more of it you get.
Way back in the day, this is how I found DWW and become a paying customer. Through Napster of all places. There was only about 5-10 good videos out there but boy did it wet my appetite!
And thus.........a new DWW customer was born.
Most of these companies are keen to this because they brand their videos with their logos and website. That way, even if a thief steals their work, they still benefit from the added exposure generated by the thief.
To go along further on this line of thought, do you think producer sales are up or down right now with the explosion of video sharing websites?
My guess?
Sales are up.
They might not admit it, but I bet they have had some help from the intellectual property thieves. I mean, for instance, let's say I buy the movie "The Goonies" at Wal-mart. I keep the movie for a year, then decide I want to sell it.
Am I violating copyright law? Should I be considered a criminal for this act? In fact, am I not helping to further promote the Goonies franchise by reselling this video and exposing it to more people?
NOW.
Am I making the case to go sign up, download producer videos, and then resell them on your website?
NO!
The key here is really one of human respect. That's the only way this game can work for everyone. Consumers have to get in the habit of appreciating the producers and stay in the habit of seeking to reward them for the value they provide. Conversely, producers have to get in the habit of getting their fans more involved in selling their product.
It's pretty immoral to buy videos from Danube Women's Wrestling and then resell them on your website. It's a dirty act. Danube spent all the money producing the video, and here you are selling it on your website?
Or pushing it through youtube with a link to your Clips4sale store?
The right thing to do is to establish a relationship with catfight and female wrestling producers and set up an arrangement where you both can make a profit off your efforts. This way, they rightly benefit from their work, and you are not constantly looking over your shoulder and having to create 50 new youtube accounts every week. (at a big loss of time and productivity mind you)
That's why I encourage all female wrestlers, fighters, and website owners with video content to set up affiliate webmaster programs for their fans and like minded websites. Not only will it curb piracy in my view, but it will make them a lot more money in the process if promoted fully.
And, I also recommend promoting the creation of Derivative Works.
Afterall, word of mouth advertising costs nothing to the producer. And from a producer standpoint, there is nothing wrong with only having to pay when a sale is closed. And think of all the websites that could be built. For instance, a fan could create a shrine to Francesca Le, write reviews on all of her matches, and make, say, 20 percent from Double Trouble Wrestling for linking to every match she has wrestled in accompanied by reviews.
To give a stark example of this..........many long time producers out there have all sorts of old and new unreleased wrestling content. They could use marketers! Who doesn't want more sales?
However, I think that many producers in this industry at this point have failed to realize that by enriching their own customers, their biggest fans, and letting them resell the works, not only will they reach more people, but they will attain more profit.
And best of all, this sends increased market signals to the producers about which matches and females are selling best.
The cost of suing millions of people is too high.
Want to sue rogue companies that are incorporated in offshore tax havens, with servers in copyright ignoring countries? Good luck. It will take years to litigate if your opponents are savvy.
The age is changing.
New solutions are needed.
Win/Win solutions that benefit the producers and empower the consumer.
Will we have an "open-source" type of business in the catfight and female wrestling world?
Only time will tell.
To be clear on my stance, copyright was an unpredicted outcome of government policies to restrict the free flow of ideas. Basically, it's designed (imho) to control the content in books and publications. It is understandable why producers want to protect that in which they create. It's a natural tendency.
However, what are the implications of the loosening or abolishment of copyright?
Hollywood once labored hard against the VCR, but it ended up increasing profits dramatically because people became inclined to watch a movie multiple times vs going once to the theater.
Hollywood fought the development of the television long before that. Look at the profits that brought!
I could cite a hundred examples.
However, I think the producers are playing a losing game in attempting to enforce copyright. It's kind of like when you kill a terrorist on his home turf. The action of killing the terrorist creates 10 more terrorists in his stead. You kill too many terrorists on their soil, and after a while, then you have a real problem.
This is a new age and we need new solutions.
Your thoughts and suggestions please.
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4 comments:
I don't buy it (no pun intended). Stealing is stealing. Yes, consumers will look for the cheapest product on the shelf. But if you take something, without paying for it, that's still shoplifting.
And yes, perhaps one or two people will go on to legitimately purchase more content from a website, after initially seeing their material via illegal sources. But there will be plenty more that wouldn't bother, cos now they've seen a few videos that they would have otherwise had to pay for. So any supposed customer increase for that producer is cancelled out.
Bottom line, I'm never comfortable with any suggestion that piracy can be justified, much less, that it can be for the actual good of the industry. Cos if it encourages people to do it, then more people do. And if too many more people do, then producers start to consider using other methods to control their content - Which then leads to the nightmare that is DRM.
So, no. I don't see any benefit for a production company rewarding anyone for selling on their work. They made it, they filmed it, they edited it. They should get all the bunce.
With respect Symon, I am not trying to justify piracy.
Since copyright is a big problem, and since it has a high chance of getting bigger, what road should the producers trend?
Towards stronger copyright? Or, should they try something that many other companies are trying?
All I suggest is a more free oriented market solution. Of course, there may be better suggestions.
Let's hear them.
Hey Mr. Ringo,
Great article!!!
Very informative and very correct I must say.
Heres my take on it. I've owned the site "cartooncatfights.com" since its beginning in 2001. Since then I've seen a MASSIVE change in the industry both good and bad. Password trading isn't as big a deal as it once was, but today its file sharing thats killing companies. Its a lot more difficult to first find "your" video on the number of sharing sites, its another thing to do anything about it lawfully at this point. And, the people going to these sites need to understand who they are helping. They are helping people who make sites whos main goal is to have thousands of people share others material while they sell subscriptions and make profits off advertisements. For the most part these people do nothing but bitch at their members while sitting on their fat ass. I would rather pay a wrestler or producer who actually made it than some pirate who doesn't care about you, any company or the actual scene we all love.
Regarding youtube ... I don't find them at fault at all. Infact, they cover themselves by how you join their site. What gets me is when the actual companies try to promote and get either their vid taken down or their accounts shut down because of the content. And, yet some idiot goes on there using their stuff later on and nothing happens to them? Whats in it for these people who upload "stolen" material? Lots of times nothing but bragging rights or a way to show the material they have for later trading.
If anything sites like youtube has helped many get the word of their site out. I know its helped mine and countless others. But, with the goods theres always bads and I still think youtube could be the biggest fad of the 2000's.
I really believe producers could bring any video down to a dollar and certain consumers will still go the free route and go the "share" method. This is why the catfight, women wrestling scene has faced a major decline in some respects. Sure, even in a time of economic struggle people will always need their drugs and porn (so to speak) but now they get it anyway they can and that way is sharing and going on pirate sites.
Sure, I might run a "silly video game site" (as many use to call it) but that silly video game site has sold thousands of games in the past. Its not easy creating these games and can only imagine the cost the actual producers of "real" women fighters pay out. First the fees to the women, for the cameras, location, lighting, time editing, promoting ... and then to be lucky to make your money back due to some idiot who posted a link with that video on a message board in under 10 minutes.
I've talked to many long time producers and the newer ones. Today I find the adult industry side of it is getting into it more and more.These are the sites that create sites only to promote themselves. The same sites that have "top 10" sites and keep others out, but all their same old sites in there. For the most part many of the sites we all know do help each other or atleast help the wrestlers. This is why you sometimes see the same women in many of the vids but in different companies. Atleast that hasn't changed.
Theres many hurtles you need to jump through to keep a head in the business and its not all just due to stealing. Its sometimes our "own people".
We can bitch, beg and ask all we want but for the most part it won't matter to people. Right now anyone reading this might say "You know he is right and I shouldn't". But, by the end of the night they will be on that site no matter how right or wrong it might be.
Just remember who you are helping ... and its not the industry who in the past gave you what others couldn't.
Shameless self promo: We just uploaded a new game on our site. Go check it out! :)
Thanks for listening and once again great article Johny.
JSK
cartooncatfights.com
Hello Johnny!
You made plenty of great points. I am good friends with, and webmaster for one of the most popular girls in the industry and I think it is a travesty that anyone in this industry has their material unlawfully re-distributed. However, you are incorrect regarding the sale of a DVD that you purchase new. You are not breaking the law if you buy a legitimate DVD from a retail outlet, and sell it at a garage sale. A new product carries with it the right to re-sell that original product, however, it CANNOT be duplicated in any form. Johnny Ringo selling his copy of The Goonies after one year at his garage sale is not a copyright infringement. Johnny selling a copy of it is the bad deed. Just thought I'd clarify this for you, but just the same, I would have baked you a cake with a file in it and brought it to you in the Joint. :o) Joe
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