Now here is an interesting article defending video piracy, from Intelligent Life, a sister-magazine of The Economist. It’s a case study of the movie The Man from Earth, an independent movie shot on a budget of $200k. The illegal copying of the movie boosted it to 5th place on IMDB, thereby significantly increasing sales revenues. The producer Eric Wilkinson thanked the community for the illegal copying and managed to raise additional funds via PayPal.
It’s nice to see that somebody influencial accepts the fact that the traditional business model of the film and music industry is antiquated and eventually has to change. Whether Hollywood is going to embrace this approach is to be seen.