| Here's an analogy I tend to use for people who think that people who steal wouldn't buy anyways an therefore don't have an effect on sales and aren't taking anything away by simply making a copy.
Imagine being in a band and you spend $10,000 to make your CD that you want to sell to fans at a show. You make 1,000 CDs to sell at $10 each. I buy one of your CDs for $10. I then proceed to make 1,000 copies and offer them for free to everyone at a table next to yours. Everyone of course opts for the free version instead of paying $10. Now I only made a copy and you still have your 999 CDs, of which I have not taken from you. Yet you are now in debt $9,990. Even though you now have $9,990 less money than you would had it not been for my actions, I am going to tell you that I am not stealing from you and that I am not having any affect on your sales because none of those people would have bought your CDs. In fact I will then go one step further and blame you because you are using outdated business methods. And I will ignore any arguments about how no business plan can compete with free.
Does that seem pretty fair? |