Generally speaking, most people believe that committing piracy is not really a big deal. It's not that harmful. For most of us average folk, it's simply not feasible to sign up to and pay for a multitude of subscription streaming sites. We pick one service, maybe two if we are on a steady wage, but how many people can afford to indulge in memberships to Netflix, plus Amazon Prime, and HBO Max, and Disney+, and Hulu, and all of the other streaming services out there? It becomes much too expensive, so when it comes to cost, piracy can be understandable too.
WHAT THE CURRENT STATS SAY
Certainly, more and more people are turning to piracy, not just in TV and film, but across all industries. The international piracy stats in 2021 indicate:
The USA is at the forefront of piracy with 17 billion clicks on illegal piracy websites in 2021 alone.
Russia has the highest piracy rate in Europe with over 14 billion piracy site visits, while Indonesia is the leading country in Asia for piracy with 6 billion visits.
70% of online users find nothing wrong with online piracy while 34% of Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) use stream-ripping programs and websites to download films and audio from streaming sites.
Pirated videos get over 230 billion views a year.
Photo by Mollie Sivaram on Unsplash
Pornography is the most pirated online content out there today. However, since our interest lies in filmmaking, let’s discuss piracy from an indie filmmaker’s perspective.
NEW TECHNOLOGY MEANS PIRATES ARE UNSTOPPABLE
There is no stopping piracy. Like it or not there is no way of avoiding this fact – your indie film will be pirated. It may take two months after release or it may take two hours, but it will happen. We have seen this with our two features Friends, Foes & Fireworks and In Corpore.
Both are available illegally as torrents on infamous websites like The Pirate Bay and on dodgy websites brimming with pop-up ads for penis enlargement and no doubt malware designed to infect your PC. Sometimes they even pop up illegally on YouTube, and we know no matter how many copyright notices we issue, the films will inevitably pop up again. It is a never-ending battle.
Most filmmakers know if they have any sort of success with their film, piracy as inevitable. We have to suck it up, but we can also ask the question – is piracy always a bad thing for indie film and filmmakers?
IS PIRACY ALL BAD FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS?
I turned to Facebook to find out and to also vent about this issue. At the time anger was driving my questions, posting after finding out In Corpore was being pirated online on multiple sites only two weeks after the release on Amazon. On a Facebook group called The J. Horton - Distribution and Marketing for Filmmakers, I asked if there was anything I could do about piracy of my indie film. My main point was that my film was getting loads of IMDb ratings really quickly, but they were low ratings. People who were not our intended audience were watching In Corpore illegally, then giving the film 1-star ratings as the sour cherry on top. Hence, the status of the film was falling rapidly after many positive and semi-positive reviews generated from the hard work of a PR company I paid to promote the film.
It was frustrating, but though most filmmakers agreed this was a common result of piracy, most felt there was nothing that could be done, like MJ Dixon:
“I’ve been here and after 10 years I can tell you, it’s a losing battle I’m afraid, you’ll spend a lot of time and effort against what is ultimately the hydra effect, for every time you get something removed another one will pop up. I’m saying this after 9 features being pirated, it really is just part and parcel of the whole thing. You just have to accept it really. Take solace in the fact that someone may discover your work who may not have otherwise and that they will seek to support your work traditionally down the road.”
A handful stated that when piracy had happened to their feature films they had issued takedown notices, such as Brian Barnes:
“I have a subscription with Copyright Slap, who issue take-down notices on your behalf. Even with their help, it's a 24/7 operation to chase the pirates and you'll never catch up with them. At some point, you just have to give up and move on. I have issued well over 1000 take-downs and it's made pretty much no difference overall. The film's still on all the sites and you can't change anything about it. It sucks.”
Others had a completely opposite view.
INDIE FILMMAKERS SHOULD BE HAPPY BECAUSE PIRACY IS FREE ADVERTISING
Before the internet was as advanced and before the piracy numbers skyrocketed to what it sits at today, the issue of piracy was very much still a rapid talking point within the indie film community. However, there seemed to be the conscious leaning towards positives for indie film privacy and downloading.
An IndieWire article from late 2011 which discusses the positives of privacy for low budget indie films mentions a 2009 sci-fi film titled Ink, produced by Kiowa Winans. Ink was illegally downloaded through torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay more than 100,000 times. From this, the producer claims, Ink found a niche audience that it would not have found had he and his team marketed it to the masses.
Kiowa went on to say, “our sales unquestionably went up as a result of the torrenting, but we by no means got rich.”
It was estimated that with Ink only 1%-2% of downloaders went on to purchase the film or donate money. On the film’s website comments were left by those who downloaded the film through torrents that they would not have found the film otherwise. Here, praise goes to the pirates who stole Ink from the filmmaker and placed it online for free and available to the masses.
Within that Distribution and Marketing for Filmmakers Facebook group a couple of indie filmmakers had a similar experience to the filmmakers behind Ink – positives from piracy and they sent me links to articles that proved their points. Filmmaker Rusty Apper claims:
The only Pirate I can put up with is this one.
“A load of indie filmmakers actually benefit from piracy as it allows their content to be 'released' in regions they never would have otherwise. Not great for the 'right now' but in terms of making a name for yourself. At the end of the day, you're not losing any 'money' these days, that’s not how piracy works anymore, it’s free advertising.”
To me, as a filmmaker who wants to continue to make films and make money from my work, I disagree with piracy being a positive. This is due to my piracy experience this year, which is hindering the perception of In Corpore, not lifting it.
My feeling is that “free advertising” is not always good, especially when your film is aimed at a small, niche audience. If the wrong people are watching your film then negative reviews will follow. It is the same as me watching John Wick just because it is free – I am not going to enjoy it because I am not the audience for action flicks. Most people watching In Corpore for free are not the audience either, yet they watch because it is a brand new torrent or because they want to see sex and nudity. I can definitely do without that “free advertising.”
SUCK IT UP PRINCESS, 'CAUSE PIRATES HAVE THE POWER
I did reach out to DCMA and enquired about issuing a takedown notice. There was a cost to the service and after thinking about it further I decided not to go ahead. It seemed like a waste of time and finances for a fight we could never win.
As a filmmaker, a business person, and an artist, what I take away from all of this is that there is no positive to having your films stolen and placed on piracy sites. It is just another hurdle filmmakers have to face as we struggle to get people to pay for our films in a severely oversaturated market. But it is a hurdle we may never overcome. The pirates have the power and all we can do is accept it and move on. It is not the positive outcome I wanted to reach. But it is the sad reality of making a film today.
Written by Sarah Jayne