• Nelots@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    Depends. They certainly lose a potential sale from some people, but many people who pirate books never would have read it if they needed to pay for it. Be that because of a lack of money or a lack of interest. Same with games and shows. So no lost sales there.

    You could even argue that pirating helps with sales by causing people who never would have read the book otherwise to discuss it with friends or strangers online. I personally think that argument is a big stretch, but it’s not entirely wrong.

    But yeah, more pirates should be willing to support authors of books they like. If you think they deserve it, buy the ebook even if you’ve already read the whole thing.

    • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      HBO knows the benefits of pirating. For many of their shows, they tend to be very lax about allowing trackers and streams for the first episode of a season, but then militantly take down everything for the second episode. Of course you can still find episode 2 if you know where to look, but the point is it’s harder. They want people to view the first episode and get hooked, and then pay for a subscription when they can’t find the next one.