Over on TorrentFreaks, we get the story of Tony, a seller/distributor of counterfeit software in the 1990s. He’s out of that business now, and he blames online P2P distribution. Curse you BitTorrent, et al.
Tony started his life of piracy sometime in the 1990’s working markets, car-boot sales and pubs in the UK, selling counterfeit PC applications/games and console discs for a fraction of the retail price. “The profit was amazing back then†he recalls “We were getting £25 ($48) for a couple of PSX games and £15 ($29) for a single CDR with the latest utilities on. We couldn’t make them fast enough.†Things were looking good for his little enterprise and before long he was clearing up to £1000 ($1,942) profit each week.
. . .
“In 2005 we shut down the factory unit†said Tony, “we just couldn’t keep going on that scale, nobody was buying anything in quantity anymore. So we closed up and moved back into a bedroom at home with my wife and her sister operating the burners, something they hadn’t done in years. They weren’t happy.â€Â
. . .
Tony is very clear about why his rags to riches story has gone back to rags again. “File-sharing, P2P – call it what you like. When you asked a customer why he wasn’t buying anything, 9 times out of 10 it was ‘BitTorrent this, LimeWire that’.
Peer to peer doesn’t just hurt the archaic industries running on obsolete business models. It also hurts the pirates who specialize in physical duplication and distribution. So the next time you are downloading that cool new song or game, whether it’s a legal or illegal copy you are getting, think of Tony and how you drove him out of his nice house and made him give up his fancy sports car and fine wines. And remember, Valve’s Steam distribution center doesn’t just suck for gamers.
[tags]P2P hurts pirates as well as industry, The other victim of online distribution[/tags]