Intelectual Piracy

Think about this for a moment;
A organized crime piracy ring (music, video or software) will make an effort to produce goods that are nearly indistinguishable from the orginal. Silk screening and quality printing. Even the lower volume pirate can setup a CD copying shop for less than $10,000.

These copies are sold for very much less than the original distributer would have sold them for. Probably cost of materials plus a reasonable percentage profit. But much less than the $15-20 we are used to seeing now.

Now look at the big legit production and distribution chains. You think they can't produce a CD for even less? They buy in bulk for one and they also have faster, more efficient processes in place.

So why does the CD from the legal source cost so much more? You have to pay the artist. But after that its all marketing and profit. There is no reason the price of a cd cant come down once it has broken even. After that its all profit. So if a CD is a big hit, it's $20 for the first couple of months, then it drops in price.

Oh wait, that's not how supply and demand work. But the pirates are already wreaking havoc so why not?

The only obvious answer is greed. It's intelectual property. The costs of production and time are easily quantified. Once that goal has been met, there is no longer a "LOSS" that can be truely claimed. Thing about that the next time your favorite platnium record selling artist claims that piracy is stealing money from him/her.