alt Hacker News>The idea in industry that pirated copies represent "lost sales" is wishful thinking.
The idea that _all_ pirated copies represent "lost sales" is wishful thinking.
But the idea that without piracy sales would be greater, sometimes substantially, because some pirated copies do represent "lost sales" is much more realistic though.
The idea that piracy helps audiences find and then buy the stuff they like, is also, for the most part, wishful thinking. Even for stuff one likes, once they have it in pirated form, they have little to no incentive to buy it (except a small niche wanting to "own the physical product" like a collector, which can sometimes be the case for music and games, but not software in general).
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280 points by tchalla on Sept 21, 2017 | 59 comments
> The idea that _all_ pirated copies represent "lost sales" is wishful thinking.
I think it is more often something people have to pretend to believe in order to maximise damages in breach of copyright cases.
> The idea that piracy helps audiences find and then buy the stuff they like, is also, for the most part, wishful thinking.
You are thinking logically. Humans are NOT logical.
In some other countries, Politicians hold huge banquets right before election day. Lots of people eat at these banquets. They could go vote for someone else after eating the free food because it is a secret ballot. However, overwhelmingly those who got to eat the free food will vote for the people who reliably show up to feed them every election. Why? Because humans are not logical.
Same applies here. You'd think people have already gotten free books or music or whatever. But if they like something, they want to be a part of it. Even if they don't personally pay for it, If they really like it, they will share it with others. Who in turn will likely pay for it.
Also I remember something profound I read when I was younger. The opposite of love isn't hate, it is apathy. The fear for anything that is worthy of copyright isn't piracy, it is being irrelevant and forgotten, out of the zeitgeist. If piracy can keep something relevant, it is worth the cost.