The Problem With Piracy

Image by: nickthenack999

We've all done it.  Downloading music and movies for free off the internet has become commonplace in this technological age and is a constant area of debate between fans and industry alike.  The desire to protect intellectual property has resulted in many counts of litigation and the proposition of some intense (and very scary) government regulation of the internet and the flow of information on it.  The introduction of Napster in the 90's virtually changed the face of how we share and consume media, giving us access to thousands of free songs and movies at a click.  As internet speeds increased with T1 and Cable, so did piracy, giving us the ability to do in seconds what used to take days (am I aging myself here?  I feel like I am).

The piracy debate seems to be an even more sensitive subject in the international Visual Kei community.  Not surprising when you are dealing with a (mostly) young fanbase and a sometimes prohibitively expensive product.  Given that Japan-made CDs and DVDs are more expensive from the start, once you factor in international shipping and exchange rates, it is not unusual to pay upwards of $100 for a single release.  Understandably, not everyone can afford these prices and many turn to piracy in order to get ahold of the music they love.

This argument has once again been brought to the forefront by the actions of heavy metal rockers, Nocturnal Bloodlust, concerning the uploading of tracks from their newest release, Desperate, to YouTube.  The band's official channel left a very harsh comment on one of the videos:  "Delete all of NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST songs immediately. you are violating copyright law. If you keep uploading our works illegally, we are going to sue you and we will stop selling CDs to overseas."  The response has been, as you would expect, quite mixed, but I've noticed a trend in the arguments that I have to say, as a writer and someone who also hopes to someday profit from my intellectual property, make me....well....angry.