Piracy is known as a sea-encounter or
maritime terrorism before. Though, today, sea pirates still exist and
continually harm and threaten security of every nation, it became widely-known
as an issue of intellectual property right, piracy of copyrighted material (Lessig,
n.d.). It took these forms: literary works piracy, audio piracy,
cinematographic piracy, and software piracy. Piracy of literary works is the
illegal reproduction of books and other printed materials and distribution/
selling of these for profit. Audio piracy is piracy of sound recordings.
Cinematographic piracy comes in two: cable piracy and video piracy
(Cheemalkonda & Praveen, n. d.). Software piracy is the unauthorized
copying or distribution of copyrighted computer programs without consent of the
holders. On its legality, one can only install software once or twice, more
than that is already considered piracy. Internet piracy is the use of internet
to download copies of pirated software.
There are four main forms of internet piracy: movie piracy, music
piracy, game piracy, and e-books piracy. Movie/ music piracy is the illegal
downloading of movies/ music from torrents for personal or commercial use.
Games and e-book piracy is downloading games from over the internet has become
so much easier and cheaper (Malhotra, n. d.).
World entertainment piracy is best
done through online play and downloading. In the year 2010 online piracy
statistics, Worldwide: 42% comprising of the following regions: Central or
Eastern Europe: 64%, Latin America: 64%, Asia-Pacific: 60%, Middle East and
Africa: 58%, European Union: 35%, Western Europe: 33%, North America: 21%. By
countries in descending order, China: 91%, Colombia: 90%, Russia: 80%,
Malaysia: 75%, India: 60%, Turkey: 45%, Taiwan: 44%, Brazil: 35%, Saudi Arabia:
35%, Italy: 20%. And the most pirated items on the World Wide Web, 35.8% on
pornography, 35.2% on movies (Avatar, Kickass, Inception, Shutter Island,
Ironman2, Clash of the Titans, Green zone, Sherlock Holmes, The Hurt Locker,
Salt), 14.5% on TV shows (Lost, Heroes, Dexter, The Big Bang Theory, House, How
I Met Your Mother, 24, True Blood, Glee, Family Guy), 6.7% on PC/ console games
(Call of Duty Black Ops, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Battlefield Bad Company
2, Mafia 2, Mass Effect 2, Sims 3, Starcraft 2, Prototype, Need for Speed
Shift, Street Fighter IV), 6.7% on software (Adobe Photoshop CS, Microsoft
Office, Nero 9, Windows Vista, Windows XP and 7, Magic Video Converter, AVG
Pro, Sony Vegas Pro, Antivirus, Magic ISO Maker), 2.9% on music (Watch the
throne, Party rock anthem, Adele, Where Them girls at, My Beautiful Dark
twisted Fantasy, On The Floor, The Wai, The Beginning, Sigh No More, Give Me
Everything), and 0.2% on e-books (1000 Photoshop Tips and Tricks, Advanced Sex:
Explicit Positions for Explosive Lovemaking, What Did We Use Before Toilet
Paper?: 200 Questions, Photoshop CS5 All in one for dummies, What Rich People
You Know and Desperately want to Keep a Secret, 101 Shortcuts in Maths Anyone
can do, Touch Me There: A Hands-on Guide to your Orgasmic Hotspots, How to Blow
Her Mind in Bed, 1001 Math Problems, How to Make People Like You in 90 seconds
or Less). There is $12.5 billion economic loss each year due to music piracy.
There are 71, 060 jobs lost in the United States every year due to online
piracy. In worker’s earnings, $2.7 billon is lost each also due to online
piracy. 42% of softwares running on Earth are illegally downloaded. $59 billion
of softwares were illegally downloaded
in 2010. More than 75% of computers have at least one downloaded illegal
application. 2/3 of torrents available online is illegal. 95% of music
downloaded online is illegal. (“Online
piracy in numbers: The facts and statistics,” n. d.).
This paper would deal on entertainment
media piracy: film piracy and a bit of music piracy where I would take the role
of a claims maker. And since, piracy in the Philippines is my major focus, I
would walk into piracy via producing and road/ mall buying of pirated compact
discs for majority in this country is not yet serviced with computers and
internet.
Being categorized under third-world
countries, the economic standing of our country mirrored the Philippine film
industry. A lot of aspects had contributed to the cut down of investments that
was dreamed to be subsidized towards the entertainment industry; while constant
costs and taxes put up got higher place values in the market. The industry’s
financial crises became a serious hindrance for improving the quality of motion
pictures through new technology and equipment. While other regions give certain
point for quota on foreign films, Asia never complied. Since the 1960s, efforts
to place quotas on imports have declined until failed constantly and regularly
in the Philippine Congress. The current trends center on the entertainment and
commercial aspects of the movie, be it a native or a foreign one. Watching
movies became one of the greatest and undying past times of Filipinos. This
serves to be their glimpse of paradise, escaping from the pains and stress
brought about by different problems we face in reality.
Shockingly, motion picture is the
reported cheapest form of entertainment, but is one of the highest paying
industries on amusement tax fees in the entertainment category. It generates 3
more than 400 million pesos in taxes for the government. Almost half a million
benefit from the industry. The movie makers, the assistants, those assigned in
costumes and make-up, the technicians, the production design, the
cinematographers, the directors, the actors, the actresses, the cleaners, the
taping venue owners, the extras, and a lot more from both the film production
and distribution groups, employees, workers in theaters, advertising agents,
and other related groups and companies relevant to the perceived success of
every picture.
In the year 1970s, market for foreign
films boomed. Its produce became a hit until it reached the point of patronage
over the local produce of films. This phenomenon continued and continued to eat
our taste for films to years that followed until today. The dominance of
foreign films in the eyes of Filipinos became a very luxurious sense and
somewhat diminishes and lowers the degree of the love for local art pieces.
On the structure of the industry,
Filipino filmmakers tend to fall into five categories, namely: the major
companies; the strong independents; wealthy individuals who finance a movie not
necessarily for profit, but for some special purpose such as promotion of
political views and religious beliefs; people who could not enter any of the
major film outfits and produce low-budget films of the rated R or X genre; and
finally filmmakers whose main concern is to develop alternative cinema. The
business lines in the industry are composed of the producers, distributors, and
exhibitors. There is also a threat of substitute products like pirated films or
movies edited for television; and threat of new entrants like new players who
can try the local market with more resources from abroad and then collaborate
with a local film producer and do joint ventures. These threaten quality of the
motion picture. Originality will be a very controversial issue, if willed.
Entertainment industry is not that
free in conceptualizations. There are still rules and regulations bounding
their world. A group will have to first evaluate their draft movie and assign
it to different categories of censorship. Laws hindering and facilitating are
the MTRCB which is a government arm in charge of classifying films as
Restricted, General Viewership, or Parental Guidance; Presidential Decree 1987
or the Act Creating the Videogram Regulatory Board; Republic Act No. 8293 known
as the “Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines,” plus several bills in
Congress that seek to strengthen the VRB and the National Telecommunications
Commission’s power in combating piracy. There is also the private sector
assisting the government in its anti-piracy efforts like the Motion Picture
Anti-Piracy Film Council which forged partnership with the Motion Picture
Association.
On the other hand, the major players
on industry associations and organizations are the Film Academy of the
Philippines, the Mowelfund, and the Film Development Foundation of the
Philippines International Film Festival responsible for funding and providing
financial assistance to movie producers who are invited to participate in
international film festivals.
An examination of the motion picture
production forward linkage shows that the market for film is motion picture
distribution and projection. On the other hand, the motion picture distribution
and projection forward linkage indicates that one major market to consider is
radio and television programming or the development of more films for
television broadcasting. Today, the internationally acclaimed local films are
marketed in many parts of the globe like the United States, Europe and Asia.
The venues are the international film festivals where foreign distributors can
review our films and show them in their respective regions. One major region to
reach is the Asia-Pacific region since its culture is similar to us and their
people can empathize with our storylines. Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, even
Korean and Singapore are good potential markets for our films. Of course, the
US, European and Latin American countries are good targets for our “exotic”
films (Garcia & Masigan, 2001).
The problem that could be evaluated
here is the low access of people to both local and foreign entertainment.
People wanted to be updated and be in the stream of what is new. Through these
things (movies, music), we learn. And in this time, in this generation, giving
your opinion is somewhat a must. If you have nothing to share about a topic
concerning the meanings, the stories, and issues attached in these movies and music,
even about the performance and renditions of each actor and singer, the tune
and the cinematography, then it is not far that you will be out of place.
People today love to argue, love to affirm, love to take stands, love to learn
from other people and the entertainment media. That is why I captured this to
be a problem. This may not be serious to many, but it is to me and for some,
too, I guess, I hope.
Problems presented in this paper
delves on the intellectual property right, low or null access to entertainment,
profit-inclined entertainment industry, piracy itself, fall of entertainment
industries, low quality produce due to limited budget and support, who acts
behind piracy, and the problem of which among these problems is the most
problematic and from where should all we start, from the perspective of who.
There exist people who find it really
disappointing, discouraging, and disrespectful to pirate their works, but there
exist, too, who don’t mind as long as the workers’ name and the parts of the
whole work itself is not violated and omitted. People shall not be deprived of
pleasurable things, of artful ones. People are being deprived unknowingly due
to the control of the market prices that people will “magkakasya nalang sa pagtitingin ng album covers.” We have laws to
eliminate piracy and protect the artists and makers, but were not really that
implemented with a strong hold. Pirated items are still obvious and very
visible anywhere we go, even to the places where police forces were roaming
around. But, the interesting thing here is that if we have the anti-piracy
groups, we unbelievably have pro-piracy groups, as well. Online speaking,
worldwide, we have the biggest, fearless website, The Pirate Bay. 70% of worldwide online users find nothing wrong in
online piracy. 67% of digital piracy is hosted in North America and Western
Europe. 22% of all global internet
bandwidth is used for online piracy (“Online
piracy in numbers: The facts and statistics,” n. d.). Because of extreme
patronage to pirated film and music albums, profits for facility improvements
and workers’ wages were jeopardized. We have the say of both sides, and in
proposing a solution, it is quite hard to decide whether or not we’ll keep on
with implementing the law, of course, this time, strictly, or make it free for
everyone. And stick with: art is for everybody.
An analysis of the strengths and
weaknesses of the films industry shows the following considerations: Good story
and believability, well-written scripts, good acting, competent directing, impediments
of being world-class, budget and technology, marketing, taxation, limited
government support, the high cost of production, the dominance of very few big
production companies, MTRCB as a “censorship” body, the star syndrome, and the
interpersonal and intergroup conflicts among the film industry players.
On the other hand, the opportunities and
threats confronting the industry are: financial capability as compared to
foreign films, international exposure and exhibition, a luxury of options and
abundance of sources, competitive advantage and a distinct image, piracy, television,
Cable Television, VCD/VHS/DVD, a chance to expand market base, and adherence of
the local film market to commercial films.
With the preceding considerations, an
action plan to enhance competitiveness is therefore recommended in the
following areas: market development and promotional strategies, promotion of
Filipino films in international markets through participation in film
festivals, discover, develop, and/or expand international mainstream or niche
markets for Philippine films. Encourage and facilitate the participation in
international film markets as a step towards the discovery, development and/or
expansion of demand for Philippine films abroad, continuous research and
development, competition on the level of the country’s core competency, invest
on technology, continuous training and development and education of current and
prospective industry personnel, development in collegiate education on courses
related to film, laws and industry governance like major tax deductions,
curbing piracy, and review of MTRCB’s role as a regulatory body, a voice in the
government through the formation of the Philippine Film Commission, a closer
look into the local film market. (Garcia
& Masigan, 2001).
So, who were thought to be behind
piracy? Is it possible that those who work for the progress and making of films
and music were the ones doing it? It is not that far to accuse those who own
these diamonds for extra profit. They might be the cinema staffs who can widely
see every run of cinema films on a right view. They could be the watchers with
camera phones or spy cameras on hand during the filming or cinema film
showings. They could be anyone. It is just that we do not have the legal, full
faces of who does piracy. And another thing, some men or families who sell
pirated music and film discs are hard to suspend for this has been their source
of living through the years, and that seemingly contributes to the lax handling
of laws in the Philippine society.
Entertainment is a form of art. Art
has always been a part of our everyday life. It is inevitable. We always see
art. Art is everywhere. It is boundless. Art is life. Life is art. The way we
think, the things we were taught. The feelings we share, our culture. Art is
finding meaning to every puzzle piece of our days. Art is our hunger for
explanations and crave for freedom. Art is a very wonderful and magical element
of our lives. We seek for it knowingly and unknowingly. Art could be the
romanticism of our reality. From it, we learn to love, we learn to survive. And
I don’t think that this thing shall be forcefully taken off our systems. I
don’t think that this thing shall be forcefully scraped out our skins just for
some monetary purposes. People shall not be deprived of what their eyes wanted
to see, what their hearts wanted to feel, what their souls wanted to capture.
This would contribute to their everyday doings. This will help them do better
and be better persons as each day passes.
Without access to entertainment, one’s
social growth will slow down, or worse, stagnate. I am not up to being madly
competitive, but on the individual sense of knowledge importance until it holds
throughout the whole society. If we’ll learn to understand different sides,
then we will be able to weigh things out and judge which one is right or wrong,
and finally, propose a solution for it. And the first step to this, I think, is
the accessibility of entertainment to people. Filipinos loved to be entertained
and to entertain. We love to express ourselves. And expressing oneself is very
hard to do, right? Not all has the big gift of being fearless. And movies and
music are two of those who continuously help people let out their true
feelings. Directors and composers are the instruments who know how to look at
the social reality and put them into songs and stories. That is why people
easily relate their lives with those, quoting the famous line of anybody, “Feeling mo lahat ng love songs ay tungkol sa
iyo.” People find companions or comrades in this aspect. They do know that
they are not the only one to have experienced what they had. People also take
some positive songs to be their inspiration that they still have the chance to
improve their statuses in life. If we will get to see these entertainment
media, positive effects would outnumber the negative ones, for I never heard of
a story without a lesson-- moral, informative or insightful.
So, what does piracy really do to our
society? It gives people the opportunity to watch or hear well-known pieces of
artistry in a lower pay than buying the original. It makes updates for people
to easily touch and enables people to talk with confidence about recent
entertainment stories. On the other hand, piracy makes people indifferent of
the entertainment industry sales. People less think about the money funded by
the producers, but rather think of their own pleasure. People became unlawful.
Piracy lessens the strength of our economy and entertainment industry. It harms
our intellectual property rights.
Surely, this issue I thought of needs
a remedy. I do not know the rules of the different Philippine entertainment
companies, but I guess it is time to make films and music for the Filipinos,
for the people, for all the people, yes that part I will take. We shall not put
the primary priority to gain profit, but to the accessibility availability of
these boxes to all classes all at the same time. I do not know if that will
work out in this capitalist world, or my idea was a very idealistic proposal,
but I hope somewhere in time, people will have equal opportunities to watch and
hear talented and awarded men-made artworks.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lessig, L. (n. d.). Free culture: The
nature and future of creativity. Retrieved March 22, 2013, from http://www.authorama.com/free-culture-8.html
Online piracy in numbers: Facts ans
statistics. (n. d.). Retrieved March 22, 2013 from http://www.infographicsarchive.com/interesting-facts/online-piracy-in-numbers-facts-and-statistics/
