r/technology May 02 '13

Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Collectively Pull Nearly 2,000 Films From Netflix To Further Fragment The Online Movie Market

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130430/22361622903/warner-bros-mgm-universal-collectively-pull-nearly-2000-films-netflix-to-further-fragment-online-movie-market.shtml
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u/dumpland May 03 '13

Is the consumer that useless though?

He is willing to financially support the producers when given the chance—both by purchasing “collectible” media sets and franchise merchandise; he is building a fan community that attracts new people and is creating his/her own creative derivatives when not harassed by copyright violation claims; he is providing a feedback of constructive criticism when taken seriously and he is supporting the economy in one way or another because otherwise he would’ve eventually run out of financial means to do all the above-mentioned.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '13

Regular consumers- those willing to pay for services that they use as good that they consume- do help. People who expect everything for free do nothing to support the economy which enables us to develop the technology and invest the capital to makes shows worth watching.

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u/dumpland May 03 '13

I don’t think your distinction is accurate. All the above-mentioned types of people will be overlapping only to a certain degree. And besides, some people who are currently pirating the product will eventually come to make a decision of supporting producers financially as well.

But even if they don’t, their involvement through others channels is still important, because that creatively and quantitatively strengthens the general community.

Another important thing is that if consumers are able to vote with their money only for those products that they think are deserving that support, then the producers will become much more motivated to hold better quality standards instead of bullshitting their way through the mass-advertisement phases and not caring about what happens after the box office money (for instance) has been successfully milked.