What should be the service implementation of media content, or why piracy thrives

“The best way to stop piracy is not sophisticated anti-piracy technology at all, it’s giving people better service than they can get from pirates.” Gabe Newell

Digital piracy is a modern horror story and a nightmare for authors and copyright holders. Many go to all sorts of tricks and restrictions down to the legislative level to protect their income, while others (the authors) began to distribute the fruits of their work for free, earning at concerts and other events. Everyone accepts digital piracy as a given, there is a struggle with him, but no one wants to think about the fact that people often simply do not have alternative sources of access to content that are comparable in terms of service and comfort. We will talk about this.



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The mechanism of digital distribution arose not so long ago. The main impetus to the emergence of such a service, such as the acquisition of digital content using the Internet, was the development of data transfer networks and increasing their speed. In the wild days of hares. There are no downloads of songs on a single track, as well as the development of various torrent trackers, who consider the stronghold of digital pirates, the publishers of video and audio products continued to be as short-sighted as they were, and continue to count the main possible distribution of content is the physical distribution of physical media. I, of course, in every way "FOR" a warm lamp collection on the shelves of fans and just connoisseurs, as well as the lamp rustling of a needle on a vinyl record, the ability to hold a compact or blu-ray disc of a collector's edition in my own hands, but let's be honest. The era of physical carriers is gone. In its place came cloud technology. I will not list the services that store our information in the clouds for our convenience, all sorts of unworthy mentions of gmail and dropbox, what a trifle. You yourself are aware of all this, and many are much better informed than I am.

Many may say: “why pay for what you can steal from poor publishers for free?” Go back to the beginning of the publication and read Gabe's quote again. The modern world is such that a person is always ready to pay for the service provided to him, and for the add. Buns, he is ready to pay more, or in advance (read the pre. Order and Season-Pass).
Yes, there are already TV channels in the Russian Federation, where by sending SMS you can order a movie you want to watch (if my memory serves me, these are NTV + channels), but more and more people sit at the PC and watch a movie / listen to music using a PC and others devices (including online).

And now some analytics

If we briefly consider the business model of such a project, it should meet the following basic requirements:

1. The ability to distribute digital content in compliance with copyright
2. Global
3. Cross-platform
4. Variability of access to the service (software, Web, mobile / TV-APPs)

The main stumbling block at this historical stage is that in the world there is no single mechanism for the distribution of digital content. Google Play and iTunes are not taken into account - these are internal corporate projects that are not the backbone “cores” of the ecosystem of companies, but just another service for the backbone platform (Android and iOS, respectively), as well as mainly oriented to the mobile sector . Based on the restrictions imposed by these facts, these services do not meet one of the main business requirements, namely, clause 3 - cross-platform. In general, at the moment the existing resources do not correspond to any item of the above-described business model, in addition to respecting copyright, and then have regional limitations, linking to specific platforms, and a number of other shortcomings (read netfix).

The basic case of user requirements is as follows and a bit more extensive:

1. User-friendly (interface, navigation, content management, financial management)
2. Maximum width “corridor” of parameters and types of equipment
3. Ability to work offline
4. Buying, not renting content
5. The ability to store content both in the cloud and on a PC
6. High level of quality of the content provided.
7. Variability of content quality (localizations, bit rates, formats)
8. Pull related materials and products

Why does this list look like this? Do not forget that user requirements do not always include, but most often they do not include software business requirements at all. What is “user requirements”? These are the tasks that the user can solve using the proposed software. UR, in fact, is the basis for the formation of functional requirements, requirements for the interface, and further to the specification of software requirements.

Looking at these two short lists of fundamental requirements, it’s quite logical that a global service for movie / music trading emerges before us. Opponents of such a system will say the following:

“Even with DRM and other copy protection methods, you will not stop the pirates, but just give them the opportunity to steal content more easily and distribute it online for free.”

In what even these people will be right. Yes, in fact, we slightly open the iron curtain, lowered, for example, on new films. In high quality, most new products can only be found after their release on Blu-ray and DVD-media, from where they mercilessly rip and put on the network. But still it is worth remembering that a person is always ready to pay for the service in order not to make unnecessary gestures.

So, ideally, the user will receive, if they buy content legally using such a platform?

1. He will not break the law.
Perhaps this is not so important for the CIS, but in the West, copyright infringement is treated very carefully. The opportunity to purchase a film / album at a reasonable price, and then enjoying your own purchase at any time using any device capable of playing video-audio costs a lot.

2. He will be able to watch a novelty movie at home.
How often have you not watched new films due to the fact that there are no tickets for the right time, there is no normal cinema in your city, you do not have enough strength to get to it, or corny Hamla with beer and chips that rustles behind your back, annoyingly annoying or sticking to the phone while browsing? Very often one or several factors stop me at once. Time is the most precious thing in the modern world, and to spend it on the way to the cinema for the sake of watching a film that I would not like to see so much, I often do not want to. Of course, going to the cinema is an archaic and sometimes pleasant cultural event, but the modern rhythm of life dictates different rules. And someone at all hates large crowds of people. This service will allow a person who does not have the ability / desire to go to the cinema for the premiere, to watch this movie at home, in silence, alone and sitting in shorts on your favorite couch . And the most important thing is not to wait half a year for the film on the net in adequate quality (DVD release).

3. It will be able to store content both on the media and in the cloud.
Many people have dozens, if not hundreds of games on the same incentive, however, they do not have to store them on their PC. They have the opportunity at any time to download, and then delete the game, without losing at the same time, even the progress of the passage. This also implies the service in question. The ability not to store content on physical media, or on a hard disk, but simply to buy the right to access an electronic copy, and there already use it at any convenient time - probably the best solution for the modern world. A huge number of people live in rented apartments, or are simply constrained in living conditions, do not want to plant stacks of disks in the closet / table, or buy another HDD for 2 Tb to organize media storage.

Getting rid of all these inconveniences is the basis of the whole idea.

Have access to the network? Watch online.
Does not allow speed? Download, look, then delete, but if you want to review with friends - here it is, the film.
Are you going on the road? Download the movies you bought on a laptop \ tablet \ phone and look in offline mode.
Do you want to collect a collection of your favorite movie while not buying HDD for 3-4 Tb? No problem.
Do you like to write reviews, rate, share your opinion with the whole world, or just with your region? You are welcome.
Looking for original voice / subtitles in other languages? Just change the localization of the movie in a couple of clicks.
Are you interested in directing versions, or materials from filming? They are here.
Want to make a gift to a friend, a music lover? What could be better than the new album of his favorite artist in the collector's edition with bonuses and in the FLAC format?
Need a merchandise, souvenirs, or still want to put a disk on the shelf? The package is already coming to you.

All this is for you in a few clicks, user, just buy.

And as it is not amazing, for the sake of the described amenities, people will buy , there are already precedents, however, in the adjacent area of ​​the entertainment industry.
How much time do you spend on choosing a movie for viewing, because No new products in the network, and then to search for an adequate online cinema, or a live distribution? It takes me at least half an hour. And then it turns out that the quality is lame in both legs and it is impossible to watch.

Do not forget about the "rights of holding." They also receive a number of advantages, first of all - reduction of costs for logistics, production of carriers, distribution and maintenance of a crowd of people to maintain this archaic monster in working condition. The benefits of a full entry into the technological era on the face. It remains to convince them of this, little things, yes.

Tar barrel

There are several serious problems in the way of implementing such a service.

The first and most serious of them - again the owners.
Yes, they are. This market is very closed and has long been divided. There are years of spent mechanisms for implementing and showing films / selling music, and they most likely will not want to change something. How to convince them to leave their “stone” century is not clear, because paranoia about piracy currently dominates common sense.

The second problem is that huge resources are needed.
Creating a global service like a start-up can not afford. It requires an experienced team, communication for contact with the owners and serious funding for the promotion and creation of infrastructure around the world. It would seem that this task is on the shoulder of such a giant, as, for example, Google, because he has experience with content of such a plan, and it’s not necessary to even talk about money. The only problem is that the service will not be a backbone, but will be included in the already existing ecosystem created by Google (Android, Chrome OS, G + and what else they will climb into their head). This option does not suit us, and any other candidates who are capable of implementation, especially does not occur. The developer must be independent.

Third, it follows from the second - the technical side of the issue.
A modern zoo of devices, permissions and OSEs makes the task of implementing cross-platform far from trivial. Of course, you can first roll out on Win, but the mobile device market is huge and its share in the consumption of media content is constantly growing. To reach everyone at once looks very difficult.

Fourth - skepticism on the theme of "not fly up."
Opponents of this service will parry all kinds of animes and netfixes, the prosperity of torrents and online cinemas. Yes, healthy fears are caused by the fact that pirates will be able to get access to the maximum quality of content without any special tricks, but who will need them? Freeloaders have been and always are, not to eradicate them, but to deprive people of the ability to consume as they like, introducing legislative restrictions, fines and various types of responsibility for using pirated products without providing alternatives and the ability not to violate the law, while not leaving the zone own comfort (chairs in the PC) - wildness.

You can talk for a long time about implementation details, protection mechanisms, functionality and other details, but I just wanted to share my thoughts, the concept necessary for implementation. Thoughts about the project that we need and which will make our life more comfortable, and anti-piracy legislation - just another writing, does not threaten us.

We use the services of pirates not because we are goons and do not want to pay, but only because modern piracy provides better service than the one offered by the modern music and film industry.

With respect.

PS Thoroughly imagining how it should look and work, even more annoyingly aware that you can not realize it.