MegaUpload
I posted this in response to something in a friend's LJ, but I think I need to repeat it, because I feel incredibly strongly about it.
See, I don't ever buy something if I don't know for sure that I want it. These days, radio stations have incredibly restrictive playlists and most of them are the same anyway. They consist of the stuff that's being pushed at the moment, and most of it is (IMO) crap. About once a year I find something that made it onto the payola list that is actually bearable, but I can't hear the kinds of music I want to hear without paying for something I don't know if I like - unless I download it to listen first. Why would I buy a pig in a poke?
I buy CDs, I do. I own around 2,000 of them and counting. If I really like something I buy it. Often I'll give the artist the benefit of the doubt later and buy their new stuff without downloading first, but all that will stop if I can't hear what they do first.
I have a rec blog for indie music. IF I can't download and listen to stuff, there will be a lot of artists that will be at least one rec lighter.
Then we have TV. Canada is a third world country as far as TV is concerned. Americans have their genre shows and so on (and cancel them) often long before they air in Canada, because so much Canadian TV has to contain Canadian content... and no, SPN is not Canadian content. Canadian content is mostly real and earnest, humourless bilge that is loved by only the pretentious, or amateurish stuff that is very poorly written. There have been exceptions, but guess what! They were canceled. Bah! well, mostly. I sympathise with you guys because your plight is worse than mine.
Let's look at a show like Leverage. I love that show. When they finally started to air it in Canada - on a channel people have to pay extra for - it was starting its third season. Burn Notice is another one. If I hadn't actually seen them (by downloading them) and been caught up in them, they'd have missed out on those Blu Ray sales. They wouldn't have had my money for the merchandise, and the conventions etc.
Make them available to me for download, and it won't stop me buying them. I am not alone. I'm one of many.
And I watch Supernatural twice on a Friday, then I download it and watch it some more, and I have it all on my hard drive, but I also own all the DVDs AND the Blu Rays, and T-shirts and books and comics and I go to cons when I can, and it's what I do. I vote. I promote, I hook my friends and colleagues and I provide huge PR for the shows I love.
You too. We need to make this known to the media owning freaks that think they are missing out on cash. They'll miss out on so much more if they cut us off. However most of the time I can't even see the goddamned trailers until some kind soul takes pity and uploads them to Youtube to snare them.
We need to fight for fans everywhere.
/rant
See, I don't ever buy something if I don't know for sure that I want it. These days, radio stations have incredibly restrictive playlists and most of them are the same anyway. They consist of the stuff that's being pushed at the moment, and most of it is (IMO) crap. About once a year I find something that made it onto the payola list that is actually bearable, but I can't hear the kinds of music I want to hear without paying for something I don't know if I like - unless I download it to listen first. Why would I buy a pig in a poke?
I buy CDs, I do. I own around 2,000 of them and counting. If I really like something I buy it. Often I'll give the artist the benefit of the doubt later and buy their new stuff without downloading first, but all that will stop if I can't hear what they do first.
I have a rec blog for indie music. IF I can't download and listen to stuff, there will be a lot of artists that will be at least one rec lighter.
Then we have TV. Canada is a third world country as far as TV is concerned. Americans have their genre shows and so on (and cancel them) often long before they air in Canada, because so much Canadian TV has to contain Canadian content... and no, SPN is not Canadian content. Canadian content is mostly real and earnest, humourless bilge that is loved by only the pretentious, or amateurish stuff that is very poorly written. There have been exceptions, but guess what! They were canceled. Bah! well, mostly. I sympathise with you guys because your plight is worse than mine.
Let's look at a show like Leverage. I love that show. When they finally started to air it in Canada - on a channel people have to pay extra for - it was starting its third season. Burn Notice is another one. If I hadn't actually seen them (by downloading them) and been caught up in them, they'd have missed out on those Blu Ray sales. They wouldn't have had my money for the merchandise, and the conventions etc.
Make them available to me for download, and it won't stop me buying them. I am not alone. I'm one of many.
And I watch Supernatural twice on a Friday, then I download it and watch it some more, and I have it all on my hard drive, but I also own all the DVDs AND the Blu Rays, and T-shirts and books and comics and I go to cons when I can, and it's what I do. I vote. I promote, I hook my friends and colleagues and I provide huge PR for the shows I love.
You too. We need to make this known to the media owning freaks that think they are missing out on cash. They'll miss out on so much more if they cut us off. However most of the time I can't even see the goddamned trailers until some kind soul takes pity and uploads them to Youtube to snare them.
We need to fight for fans everywhere.
/rant