This is such a good post from the Mark Cuban that I couldn't help but reproduce the important part. He's certainly in a position to speak on this, since he has $1B invested in the movie business:
The MPAA is staring right in the face of a paradox and they must make aHopefully the movie industry hears him loud and clear - trying to fight pirating will have you going down swinging, slowly bleeding from a fight that wasn't worthwhile in the first place. Spend time improving your product (the "going out", theater experience) and marketing it to its audience, and you'll increase sales, just like anything else. The MPAA has the advantage of having had a front row seat to the music industry's debacle - now it should learn from their mistakes and usher in a new era of movie going experience, rather than trying to defend obsolete ones.
choice. They can continue to invest in the war on Digital Piracy (as
opposed to physical DVD piracy, which can be monitored and slowed by
confiscating actual DVDs and duplication equipment), or they can invest
in promoting the fun of going to the movies.
Invest in a
positive message that can get people more excited about their member
products and the unique experience offered in theaters, or send a
message that your customers are crooks and pirates. Invest in a message
that could generate more revenues for your members, or invest in the
cost of trying to close the "analog hole" which costs taxpayers money
as you waste legislative time, consumers money, as you waste the time
and money of cable, satellites and telcos who will fight this effort or
spend millions having to adopt it, and of course drive up the cost of
the movie going experience because of all the above.
