The rise of streaming sites was thought to be a solution to movie piracy, but recent changes have brought uncertainty in the industry. Streaming giants have quietly removed movies and shows that are still popular, most likely for tax purposes. This makes some movies difficult to find online.
“Pirating” movies started when physical media was still the norm. Users were breaking the law, but could access all the movies they could with relatively simple tools. The Daily Beast takes a deep dive into the topic:
Warner Bros. Discovery has purged a bunch of high-profile movies and shows, either canceling them in post-production or deleting them from the Max platform. The sci-fi show Westworld disappeared from Max after its fourth and final season. WB killed off the completed superhero flick Batgirl without ever releasing it. Hulu, Disney+, and Paramount+ have also conducted their own, smaller purges.
So what are a viewer’s options when a studio or streamer abruptly yanks a film or series from distribution or, eyeing a tax writeoff, cancels it right before release? These issues are also compounded as physical media like DVDs and Blu-rays disappear from stores and movie distribution remains fractured by geography.
Price was always a factor in piracy, but cheap streaming options meant that many consumers were happy paying a subscription to watch all movies on demand, for cheap. Brooklyn College says:
Pointing to a recent study, Gladstein said that as many as 30 million consumers across nine million American homes use illegal streaming services, often without even realizing it. Another report found digital video piracy causes domestic losses of at least $29 billion and as much as $71 billion every year, resulting in losses between $47 billion and $115 billion to the gross domestic product. The same study found that this costs the U.S. economy between 230,000 and 560,000 jobs each year—the majority of which are taken from the workers behind the cameras who put in long hours each day.
While there are laws in place around the world that have proven to be effective tools against this kind of piracy, Gladstein pointed to the fact they are not yet available to copyright owners in the United States, and he urged the committee to implement similar measures.
The music industry has broadly removed digital rights management software, making purchasing music easier and portable. Streaming and digital music purchase is still a profitable industry, and might provide a template for the movies industry.
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