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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1540379" data-attributes="member: 151">The waters are, unfortunately, considerably muddier than this.  Different artists have different circumstances.  One reason Metallica was so vocal about Napster was that they own the rights to their work, and merely distribute the music: they reap a much higher portion of the profits of their work than, say, Prince, who was almost legendary for how badly he was abused by the record industry.  Contrast this with the Grateful Dead, who made (and in parts, still make) the lion's share of their quite formiddable profits from the proceeds of their touring schedule, not their music sales.  In fact, they received precious little of the proceeds, afaik, one reason for their famous attitude toward recordings and bootlegs (though personal philsophy was surely equally or more influential).  Further, many stars might have made considerable salaries from their work in the past, if not for unethical treatment at the hands of their labels.  Issues such as charging exoribatant fees when recording the album to the artist, and then collecting those fess from their proceeds, was a farily famous and standard example.  An artist could have a hugely succesful record and actually end up owing the company money.  These days, the merchandise may make the artist as much money as their work, but this really only applies to a certain tier of artists.  Further, contemporary contracts are much better (thanks to the efforts of many artists over the past few decades) than they once were.  As for how piracy effects RPGs, I tend to think it has a small impact, inversely proportional to the publisher's size.  Fifty people pirating 'Elements of Magic' is far more damaging than 1000 people pirating Unearthed Arcana.  I also agree with what Henry's saying, in that clearly, the material is desired, at some level.  That they're not willing to pay the requested price doesn't invalidate the laws of supply and demand, merely indicates that the ease of acquisition of those items has changed the negotiating price.  If those books were available no other way, I'm sure some of these pirates would buy them, if they were inexpensive enough, or they would purchase just one or two that were the most valuable to them.  Are there some who wouldn't buy any?  Quite likely....but I suspect the majority would, if the price point were low enough, purchase some of them.  That said, I just can't see my way clear to illegally acquiring any RPG products.  EVER.</blockquote>

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