Jim, would you mind if I re-post this to my FA journal?? You've laid it out so well, that I feel like sharing it off-group would be good idea.?
More then likely it won't have any real impact on the issue, but you have a talent for stripping away "bullshit" and I don't think the theft issue can be laid out much better then you've just done.
D.O.P.R
-----Original Message-----
From: Take a wild, friggin guess <a_change_of_plans_at_yahoo.com>
To: SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 11:17 pm
Subject: [SkunkworksAMA] Re: (C) infringement isn't theft, nor are illegally-obtained digital collections
My biggest complaint about the "online picture trading" is this: I
have no problem with folks swapping/showing off the artwork I have
scanned in. True, there is often a light watermark on the image
(less intrusive on newer pictures) to let people know where the site
is located. But then, rather than use those, some moron feels
compelled to scan the pictures in at 300 dpi and post the entire
collection (comics included) online in .rar or .zip files (which get
pretty fucking big).
True, some folks would argue "That's not a loss because those
people weren't going to buy them anyway". If that's the case, then
they do not deserve to see them. At least, not in 3500 X 2500 pixel
size. I don't know about how people are being raised these days, but
I was always taught that if you can't afford it, you either save up
for it, or you don't get it. Simple as that. The only freebies that
should be given out in life are the food samples by vendors at the
supermarket.
If I wanted free advertising, that would be better attained by
people passing around the LOWER RESOLUTION WATERMARKED VERSIONS,
which, of course, would list the site address on them. Passing out
hi-rez scans to one's online buddies, sans watermarked address,
doesn't do dick for advertising, yet too many pirates use this sort
of logic these days.
Yes, this sort of behavior does cause a loss in sales. I have
paperwork to back that up. After all, why should someone spend money
to buy prints/folios/comics (which, of course, COST money to
produce), when they could just get them for free? "They weren't
going to buy them anyway"? If that's the case, then why do they ask
for the entire collection, and save all the pictures to their
harddrives? I dunno about you, man, but if I have no intention of
buying something, there's no way I'd download every possible image or
file related to it. Makes no sense.
Yes, it does cost me money to produce these things. Just printing
one Skunkworks folio costs a little over eleven dollars. They
wholesale to Second Ed for $17.50. Not much profit there, is there?
And that's not even taking into account the cost of supplies (pens
are four bucks EACH, pencils are a dollar EACH, and inking pens and
drawing paper are negligible. Care to guess how many colors I go
through in a single picture? Or how long I often spend on one
picture, let alone an entire folio? Yeah, it breaks down to
something like 17 cents per hour as my pay. Not a lot of incentive,
especially when there are so many folks who think it's completely
okay and within their rights to just take what they want without
having to pay for it. Obviously, the concept of capitalism is lost
on these feeble-minded individuals.
So, the best I've been able to do thus far is offer the work on
specialty paper. I don't do digital; I've never been a fan of it,
and don't really intend on using that format in the immediate
future. If people complain because they feel I should "keep up with
the times" and that no one "buys anything on paper these days", so be
it. But that doesn't mean they have the right (as they so often
profess to say they have) to scan and/or download illegally-obtained
copies of my work. They are NOT doing me any favors by doing so.
This is a large part of why there is less work from me these days.
I don't have to contend with piracy in the mainstream genre. People
see a picture they like, they pay for it. I used to make a decent
amount of money in the furry genre before image boards became big,
but with the proliferation of online image theft, it's caused an
immediately noticeable decline in sales. So, do I keep investing
time and money in the genre, hoping I won't get robbed blind, or do I
spend most of my time on mainstream art, where I can generate a good,
solid income free of piracy, and produce furry art as a hobby, as
something I enjoy but only get to do once "work" has been taken care
of?
I find it especially amusing when folks clamor for "moar artz" and
raise hell when I take too long to produce new material, yet they
never have the intention of buying it. They just wait until someone
gets ahold of it and scans it online for all to share. There will
likely be someone who would say I'm complaining about the situation,
and perhaps I am. But if the fandom itself is incapable of taking
responsibility for its actions and shedding the undesireable leeches
from its ranks, then the artists will have to do so. And that
includes things like paysites, pre-orders and copy-proof media.
Folks complain about these things, yet fail to realize they brought
it upon themselves by their actions, or by allowing and encouraging
the illicit actions of others.
And that's my two fucking cents on that.
--JMH
Received on Thu Oct 02 2008 - 18:35:13 CDT