MegaUpload and stuff

Yesterday on BBC news there was a bit of time dedicated to MegaUpload and related matters. Firstly, Ars has a pretty interesting overview of what went on at MegaUpload and it sounds like they are genuinely a bunch of scumbags. Those file hosting sites are pretty much the scum of the internet anyway. They are horrible things.

Secondly, they had a short interview with some random business person who claims to be getting hurt by piracy. He was moaning that he was spending money producing albums and that no one was buying them. I think people in the “creative industries” really struggle with a key part of capitalism which is exemplified perfectly here: people are free to not buy your stuff! It’s got nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with your failure to offer people something they actually want. We ‘consume’ a lot of music and other media, but usually it’s just because it’s there, not because we think “wow this is really good, I must pay for it”. Most music doesn’t have any monetary value to me. I don’t care if you spent £50,000 producing it.