What is Piracy? It’s the unauthorized duplication of an original recording whether it’s a film, music etc and used for a commercial use without the consent from the owner of that piece.

Piracy is something that we seem to can’t get rid of, it’s everywhere, no matter how you try and dodge it. And yes it is illegal. This is an issue which is growing rapidly not only in London, but all over the UK and the rest of the world. As technology grows and becomes more advanced, so does piracy and it is affecting the film and music industry in a negative way as it decreases the profit made from movies and music albums. Piracy ranges from buying a pirate DVD from the oriental man down in front of Asda, to simply downloading a film from the internet. It used to be DVD’s and Videos but now its spread to the internet.

How do the films get from being in the cinema to pirate DVD’s or becoming a download on the internet? One way is the actual projectionist. Whilst showing the video, they are able to secretly record the film and distribute it. That’s why some of those pirate films have such great quality or as they call it “DVD quality”. The other way is the good old fashioned way which is recording the film whilst in the cinema with a normal hand recorder, but with a larger chance of getting caught. Cinemas use these new night vision goggles to detect anyone using an electrical device in the dark, so you might not see them, but they sure see you. These are just some of the methods, which are then either leaked onto the internet like the ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ film (which sparked up a massive row as it was leaked onto the internet which Fox called a "stolen, incomplete and early version” way before it’s initial release at the cinema), or put there on purpose.

So why are pirate DVD’s so popular? This is due to a few factors. One is that sometimes the release dates of film at the cinema are so far apart for different countries that the public simply can’t wait for it to come out, therefore resort to pirate DVD’s. A few years ago films would be released in the US 2 - 3 weeks before it was released in the UK and other countries or sometimes even longer. One incident was the film ‘The Mist’ which is a Stephen King classic. It was released in the US the 21st November 2007 but was only released in the UK on the 4th July 2008, an 8 month gap. The same happened with John Cena’s film ‘12 rounds’. Now the film industry is trying to crack down on that by releasing the film at either the same time or shorten the gap around the world. A very recent example of this is Michael Jackson’s last days during rehearsal for his London concert ‘This is it’ before his tragic death. The film/documentary baring the same name ‘This is it’ was released all over the world simultaneously. According to the ‘LA Times’, published in the London Times online, “Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman Michael Lynton says that video piracy is a key factor in Sony's simultaneous release: "If Sony released [the film] only in the US. On Wednesday, by late Thursday it would be Camcorded, uploaded onto the Internet, and available free to anyone with a broadband connection."” which is absolutely true.
The other factor is due to the prices that DVD’s are going at when they are first released. The price for a DVD just released can range all the way up to £17.99, while Pirate DVD’s are around £5 quid. So why would anyone want to spend so much money when they could get it cheaper first go round? Unless you want a 2 disc or all the special features etc, then original DVD’s would be more up your street. Also, that’s around the price range for a cinema ticket at your local cinema, excluding the more posh ones such as ‘The VUE’ and ‘Odeon’. Especially with the recession happening, people are looking for a cheaper way out unfortunately, this does affect the Film industry big time.

How can piracy be reduced and eventually one day be stopped completely? Well one solution was mentioned already about the simultaneous releases of films around the world. Another way, make DVD’s cheaper. They don’t have to be extremely cheap but not too expensive. When a new film comes out its about £12.99 - £17.99 depending where you buy them from, give it a few weeks and the price decreases to £8, then about a month or two later you can get it for like a fiver. So if DVD’s can decrease the prices so quickly, why not start out with a smaller price and keep it there for a while instead? Same with cinema ticket prices. Make them cheaper and more people will turn up and be more likely buy large popcorn and drink to go with it. At the moment, local cinemas do have a thing they call discount Monday’s where the ticket is about £2 - £3 cheaper. You can imagine how full it is on a Monday. Statistics for how much a film makes is usually based firstly on the first night of release. If the ticket it expensive then what they expected to turn up won’t turn up unless it’s a limited release like Jackson’s film. Otherwise, Monday’s it is.

Piracy is something that needs to be dealt with before it gets any worse. Talk about creating a hole in the O-Zone layer, it’s creating a gap in the film industry.