What if the government declared that all TV shows, video, and music were free?

[Grummgug]

Let's say the government passes a new law stating:

1. It was not illegal to download and share media (Films, TV shows, video, music, audio) for free.
2. Production teams were required to release a free version.
3. Ads and product placements were ok.
4. Concerts and live shows were ok.

What do you think the Film, TV, and music industries would look like after 1/5/10/20 years? What would the quality be?

[tj119]

I would love this, hopefully it would kill off the disgrace of human beings we call celebrities.

[Kujako]

People dislike working for free. I've found they often stop or at least do a half-arsed job if they stop getting paid.

[Nihilist74]

I would rather they made food, clothing and housing free instead.

[Daethz]

high quality movies and shows would likely cease to exist.
I like what we have now, where you can easily "steal" anything and actually pay for it if you really liked it and wouldn't mind giving the creator money/compensation for seeing/listening to it.
Instead of the old way of paying before seeing.

[Grummgug]

I would rather they made food, clothing and housing free instead.

People aren't mass downloading free food clothing and housing off the internet creating a logistical nightmare for law enforcement tho.

[Kethmil]

In Spain we do have such a law.

Its called "Private copy law". It allows you to copy culture (music, films, series, books) from a friend's copy as long as you dont intend to sell it and is for yourself only.

In exchange, such industry recieves a canon everytime a blank cd, a hard drive, a packet of paper sheets and basicaly anything that might contain such products is sold.

I think is a fair trade. Allows poorer people get access to culture without having to expend loads of money.

[Grummgug]

People dislike working for free. I've found they often stop or at least do a half-arsed job if they stop getting paid.

I didn't say they would not get paid. They can have commercials, product placements, and do live events where they charge admission (altho a free video of the live event would have to be released). A singer could make lots of money from concerts. A sitcom could perform episodes live in arenas around the country.

Do you think it would evolve like that to make money? More live events? Would Hugh Laurie or Keifer Sutherland come to your town to do shows?

[Wikko]

In Spain we do have such a law.

Its called "Private copy law". It allows you to copy culture (music, films, series, books) from a friend's copy as long as you dont intend to sell it and is for yourself only.

In exchange, such industry recieves a canon everytime a blank cd, a hard drive, a packet of paper sheets and basicaly anything that might contain such products is sold.

I think is a fair trade. Allows poorer people get access to culture without having to expend loads of money.

It's the same way everywhere. You can download all you want but when you share the file ie. seed, it's illegal.

[Daethz]

In Spain we do have such a law.

Its called "Private copy law". It allows you to copy culture (music, films, series, books) from a friend's copy as long as you dont intend to sell it and is for yourself only.

In exchange, such industry recieves a canon everytime a blank cd, a hard drive, a packet of paper sheets and basicaly anything that might contain such products is sold.

I think is a fair trade. Allows poorer people get access to culture without having to expend loads of money.

Agreed, america needs this law.
Pirating should be legal for self-usage, selling any copyrighted product you did not buy yourself should remain illegal though.

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It's the same way everywhere. You can download all you want but when you share the file ie. seed, it's illegal.

Actually isent copying/downloading anything without buying it technically illegal?
Plus the person you are downloading it from is committing a crime, technically.

[Orlong]

high quality movies and shows would likely cease to exist.
I like what we have now, where you can easily "steal" anything and actually pay for it if you really liked it and wouldn't mind giving the creator money/compensation for seeing/listening to it.
Instead of the old way of paying before seeing.

Yeah, if they made TV shows at all, they would be made with very poor production values like those British shows. Im not sure the BBC even films in Hi-Def. Their shows look horrible visually.

[Cyberowl]

In Spain we do have such a law.

Its called "Private copy law". It allows you to copy culture (music, films, series, books) from a friend's copy as long as you dont intend to sell it and is for yourself only.

In exchange, such industry recieves a canon everytime a blank cd, a hard drive, a packet of paper sheets and basicaly anything that might contain such products is sold.

I think is a fair trade. Allows poorer people get access to culture without having to expend loads of money.

In Germany we have this canon but don't have the law. Although downloading something from time to time most likely won't get you in trouble unless some law agency actively wants to get you.

[twiddler]

I'm a capitalist and I'll stick with it instead of hypocritically changing my stance like the first response. Whether it be interns or celebrities with different political views, people need to be paid.

[Orlong]

In Spain we do have such a law.

Its called "Private copy law". It allows you to copy culture (music, films, series, books) from a friend's copy as long as you dont intend to sell it and is for yourself only.

In exchange, such industry recieves a canon everytime a blank cd, a hard drive, a packet of paper sheets and basicaly anything that might contain such products is sold.

I think is a fair trade. Allows poorer people get access to culture without having to expend loads of money.

That only works though when people share content from Spain. The majority of piracy is for content from American producers who dont see a nickle of those fees added to blank media

[nextormento]

I worked ok prior to the XVIII century, I guess.

[Wikko]

Agreed, america needs this law.
Pirating should be legal for self-usage, selling any copyrighted product you did not buy yourself should remain illegal though.

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Actually isent copying/downloading anything without buying it technically illegal?
Plus the person you are downloading it from is committing a crime, technically.

If making a copy/downloading something for yourself was illegal then something like taping a video using vcr of a show would've been illegal.

[Grummgug]

Attention

I don't want this to derail into a debate on if this should or should not be illegal. There's been plenty of those debates.

I want to focus on a scenario where the government says it is legal. What do you think happens to the film, TV, and music industries.

Thanks!

[Crissi]

I suspect that expensive to produce historical shows would not happen, since you can't product place in those.

[nextormento]

In Spain we do have such a law.

Its called "Private copy law". It allows you to copy culture (music, films, series, books) from a friend's copy as long as you dont intend to sell it and is for yourself only.

In exchange, such industry recieves a canon everytime a blank cd, a hard drive, a packet of paper sheets and basicaly anything that might contain such products is sold.

I think is a fair trade. Allows poorer people get access to culture without having to expend loads of money.

We abolished it in 2011.
Now it's charged directly to the state budget (some 5 million euros per year; about 5% what they used to get through the levy).

[Nadiru]

Movies would be fine, there would be a greater impetus to get people into theaters. Theaters themselves would likely improve, too.