Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
A lot has happened since the last time I wrote about online comic piracy. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’ve changed my mind, but I think my views are starting to evolve. At the very least, I think I’m less worried.
Last week Neil Gaiman and I had a friendly exchange about online piracy on Twitter (Read The Beat arcle including it here). I made my points, showed him my blog about Pieces For Mom, he made his points about people discovering him because the only way readers could find him was online. I could see how it had benefited him.
The point that all those downloads I see on my work do not necessary equate with lost sales is a good one, and who knows, maybe they will read something online and then go buy more. For Neil it seems to have worked. For me, I honestly have to say I don’t know.
What I quickly realized was Neil and I have had completely different experiences with the exact same thing. That tells me the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
I’m by no means shifting to a pro-piracy stance. I still think stealing is stealing and we all know in our hearts when we are stealing.
I grew up in a music scene that lived and died by the cassette tape. We made tapes, swapped them, traded but never sold. And usually, first chance I got I’d buy the vinyl because I wanted to hold that fucker in my hands and I wanted to support these bands.
So, maybe that will happen here. Maybe the sample and buy model will work. Right now I know I’d rather appeal to the hearts and minds of people out there who want work like mine to continue. Since the rise of SOPA/PIPA I have become very wary of legislation attempting to control what we see and do on the internet, so for now I’m not going to worry about piracy so much and put my faith in the people instead.
Always thanks for reading my rants. You guys are the best.
-Steve
For those of you who want to fight, here's a baby bunny.