FYI a torrent doesn't equal pirated material, it's just a means of transferring data that most people use to pirate data. There are many sites that still offer their software through a torrent file.
usually used for large file sizes, to lessen the strain on whatever servers they are held on. Steam and origin for instance use torrents. When you go an download a game from them, its a torrent. It'd be insane for them to host the games in uncompressed folders.
lol, I think a lot of people will just download it watch 1/4 of it and stop watching it, then they will be happy they didn't pay for what they saw which was 1/4 low-quality tutorial. I think a lot of people never get to the joke part of it. but none the less it was a funny idea.
"We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem," - Gabe Newell. The man that made piracy in the gaming industry a non issue.
michael lennon the stuff the teach in the Alps or whatever isn't only useful to those areas. They shoot in those areas for 2 reasons: to teach you the general techniques that can be applied anywhere and everywhere, and to be more entertaining for their viewers and separate themselves from the countless other boring tutorials you can find everywhere
Jack, Photographing the World may be a very decent gimmick, but I'd expect it to be a pretty expensive one. The fact that the same techniques can be applied anywhere makes me wonder whether the extra expense is really justified from a business perspective.
Comedy traffic school is very popular. The funny parts keep it interesting. An Fstoppers spoof series could go quite well, even though the specific content might not be as glamorous as exotic locations. There are also many direct real world applications like real estate photography that even a spoof video could cover quite well.
Quite the opposite, in my opinion. It clearly demonstrates the paucity of their product. As a 'joke' they can make an equally good (i,e, not worth much) tutorial and one that may be more relevant to users; making the best of a mediocre target rather than an overpriced travelogue.
upon checking your store i can easily say that you bring piracy upon yourself $300 is way too expensive for most people to afford also its not stealing, its called copyright infringement (big difference)
because stealing is different to piracy stealing = the owner loses the item (meaning there is a loss) piracy = making a copy of the item (the creator doesn't lose anything) if i instead find a way to copy that corvette, then we both have one and no harm is done
yeah unfortunately though, triggered content creators like the video uploader and corporate ass kissers like darek m dont beleive in logic they are the kind of people that think denuvo and securom are good ways to avoid piracy (even though they are both known to damage computer hardware like SSDs)
True. I feel like there's really a gap between their vision of things and actual reality. Seriously tho, I feel like they are just full of themselves. We can clearly see that they are not doing this by passion, but for money. 300$ for a TUTORIAL that does not give you any diploma or even a sheet of approval that's recognized as legitimate ? uh uh, no no. There are free tutorials and advices, given by real photo enthusiasts out there. Fstoppers are closer to the definition of thieves than the ones who download torrents of their videos. Oh and, 6:55 "I think photographers are pretty hypocritical because [they] steal music and software and videos, and are bummed when someone uses their pictures without permission" Ummm.. again this is not stealing. this is copyright infringement. But it's actually WAY easier to make it look like you're the owner of a picture that's not yours. That's why people are bummed when it happens. These people produce something, and someone else takes it and say they took the pic... These people, unlike Fstoppers, do not charge for their work, and photographs are often behind the camera there's no way to tell who actually took the pic. I will say it again Fstoppers, you're full of yourselves.
I understand that it costs a lot of time and money to make those tutorials, but 300 dollar is just too much for most amateur photographers, so they resort to Torrents. Kinda like how most people stopped downloading movies after Netflix came arround. People are willing to pay money for legal contet, just to a certain extent.
exactly if you are going for one specific thing in type of photography you won't be buying bundle with price 300$ if you need i don't know 12m of that video.
I didn't download any of their content. I'm simply pointing out a possible reason for the amount of people using torrents. For some people $300 is like 20% of their monthly income.
wtf 20% ? it's like minimum vage in our country so for some poeple even amateur photographers here it might be like 50%+ of their monthly ... and saving up for camera is hard enough. and we are supposed to be in developed country ....
The photography scene is already full of narcissistic cocky people and don't forget overpriced software and hardware. So when you're charging $300 dollars for one video what do you expect of course people are going to pirate it $15 - $80 no problem people would pay.
LOL at this video with added Screeches of Delight+Guffaw+Sounds I don't usually make in front of other people+Knee Slap+a little tear in the corner of my eye. Athletic calorie burning laughter with next day soreness.
The vast majority of humans are corrupt and immoral.Without strict laws,and heavy regulation,piracy will never be controlled. Thank goodness my report to the FBI and RIAA in 2010,helped get Limewire and Kimdotcom investigated and shut down. I used limewire myself,but I had a change of heart,when I found out how independent artist are not making money,and their content being pirated.
Torrenting, most of us do it and old men in suits pour thousands of dollars into trying to stop it , not fully understanding how the internet works and how you cannot control it's content with money. What you've done here is move away from the fellow-photography lover model and yourselves create a split like that of a business, the consumer and the producer. You have shown yourselves to be chasing the monetary value of your practices, which within itself isn't bad aslong as you're ok with the producer/consumer model. The problem arises when you attempt to relate to these people that download torrents, and create, to most, a subtle hypocritical point. If you are torrent users yourselves, shouldn't you know that people downloading the torrents do so at the risk of viruses, malware, spyware, adware, unwanted applications and other various methods to produce income for the torrent poster BECAUSE they do not have the funds available to buy your product, which you would know if you as you claim, actual torrent users. You've alienated yourselves against the people that shared your initial passion for this art, before it was all about money, money, money. I sincerely hope your consumers see you for the greedy, lying, dishonest businessmen you all are in finding pleasure and smugness in denying the interest and passion in those people trying to torrent your media.
@I Type Long Comments I think it's clear from the opening explanation in this video that they are not exactly typical torrent users. And that's basically the problem you're highlighting. They barely even know what a torrent even is it seems, so of course they can't be expected to figure a business model for the Web 2.0 age.
I can understand the frustration in piracy, but I can tell you; there are a large number of people who will initially pirate it, then purchase if worth it. From movies to video games, there is a lot of crap out there. I stopped blindly buying things when I spent $60 on a video game that had maybe 20 hours of play time. $80 on a 3D modelling tutorial for 3DSMax which turned out to be poorly made with extremely low production quality that even the included example files were totally messed up. If I download material that is worth it, I buy it. This exercise is very interesting though. Just don't completely discount the "demo" and free material ideas. It helps to make an informative decision to buy. I guess you can say this mentality comes form the age of shareware, we were able to download or get our hands on a demo of a game before putting hard earned cash into it to buy it. I am inheriting an old 35mm camera with some lenses and accessories from my mother who recently passed away, so you material might come in use. From what I have seen, your tutorials are of great quality. I may just jump the shark and buy outright against my better judgement.
True. Which is why I didn't come right out and just say there is NOTHING wrong with piracy. I am only saying it is worth some free material to push Identity and product confidence. I am just stating; don't discount the niche that would help push you forward. Nine Inch nails/Trent Reznor and "The Slip" Was a great example of "If you pirate this, oh well." The few of us who did download it for free ended up turning right around and purchasing the record, sometimes for more than the going rate, and helped promote and campaign NIN to stay relevant. Not all of us are "dirty, immoral pirates" Rampant and unchecked piracy is no good, a little is fine and does not destroy the bottom dollar.
Very often people who pirate and just walk away, wouldn't have used money either way. So whether or not a pirated copy had been available, it wouldn't have made a difference in profits. The idea that pirated copy = lost sale is just plain wrong.
With your logic, you order food and eat it. If you eat it and don't like it, you wont pay for it? That is their content, you gotta buy something if you wanna try it out. No other way around it (unless the creator provides a demo). I don't know why you try to justify stealing.
Turtle5902 Now learn what intellectual property is and you'll figure out where you went wrong. I'm not justifying stealing, but stealing intellectual property isn't as hurtful as stealing a physical product.
Put your stuff out there and if people think it was worth it and want to support you they will. Not everyone who pirates your content is a lost sale. They wouldn't have paid or watched in the first place.
Skalty Don't see it. By your analogy you're expected to pay for the 'luxury items' without being allowed to look at them fully so no idea what you're getting. Video content is not like physical objects.
It's like the Game of Thrones business model. GoT wasn't really that big until episode 3 got released early to torrents and the regular show watchers boosted the torrent stats trying to watch it early which caused people who weren't watching to watch out of curiosity. HBO then saw a serious subscription boost afterwards from those who weren't watching before. HBO Go wouldn't even be in existence if it wasn't for torrents and the CEO of HBO has pretty stated as much. The truth is, for people who make recurring content, torrents are nothing but a boon because even if people don't buy the first, they may buy the second or the third. Singular works it can hurt, but mostly if that content only drives its' income from curiosity cash and the content is in itself not able to create word of mouth that a single watcher can not convince someone else that wouldn't have payed to pay for it. TBTH this is an incomplete video with a misleading title because they didn't show what actually happened, they just showed what they did. Did they see a boost in the sales of the previous videos? Did they see a decline in the sales of the real vid compared to the others when they were released? Those are the actually important questions. "We trolled our freeloaders and they sent some bad emails" is really, really week, especially if your trying to make the claim that torrenting is bad for creators. Off topic, but if they're charging that to viewing customers, they need to fire their sales guy. Photography videos should be partnered up to the gills to the point actually charging the viewers would be an absurdity if they have any sort of track record for viewership they can bring to the table.
These torrented files can really help increase the exposure of a product in ways no other advertising can. Many who try a product through piracy go on to later buy that product in the future. The few who are "lost sales" are kind of the cost of the advertising. The Author ,Neil Gaiman says it better with this story: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0Qkyt1wXNlI.html
If that changes anything for you, I doubt you would have ever become a customer anyway. Whats the point in learning this stuff... if you think it's worthless.
Honestly I have no problem paying for tutorials, however, at 300 a piece or 700 for all three it is a bit steep even for people in full time employment (if you pick all three that is half the pay cheque of a few people I know). I can think of quite a few other things 300 to 700 Euro will do for me, however, I would love if they decided to make these available using a subscription service. It makes these more accessible to not only the hobbyists but the young (who more than likely can't afford the price of entry at current), the old (same situation as the young) and everybody in between. That way they could still make their money while educating a larger audience. Just my two cents!
The unspoken philosophy behind software pirating is: If you can afford it buy it, if you cant, but desire it then pirate it, in the end the creators of the product wont loose profit because if piracy was literally impossible to do, the consumer that couldn't afford it still wouldn't have bought the product. The real problem arises when a consumer can afford a product but pirates it instead. A reminder that in theory infinite copies of a software can be made. PS. The more people own a product, the more people will know about the product and then the more likely a person that can afford it will purchase it. It is a form of indirect marketing.
"attracts new subscribers" "mr elite youtuber" Lol yup people are stupid enough to subscribe to completely unrelated channels randomly in comments. Don't be so salty that you can't grow a channel bud, it's not good for your health. Use that energy to make content people wanna watch instead of crying like frothy cooters to random people watching videos.
This is probably the best thing they have ever done. Ever since I have started produce my own content I have switched to legitimate sources for my content. Yesterday, a company used my image without my permission for the first time that I have found out about it. Definitely annoyed me even though I have not monetized my content yet
Plus now even more people know where to go to get torrents. It's one thing to leave your car doors unlocked, but pretty bold and risky to hand them the keys.
I mean.. At first I was thinking people who pirate things know where to pirate things, but an the flip side of that coin, they totally did just tell all of their viewers (many of whom do not regularly pirate things) that they can download their paid tutorials on these sites, so if they hadn't thought of it before, they are now, so I have to agree with you there.
+CfomodzGaming, though i see where you coming from and generally we are on the same page; the thing to note is that they KNOW they can not make much of a mark on the underground or piracy culture they mainly wanted to have people realise. AND (i think) THEY DID! The premise that others who did not pirate their content will now suddenly want to has got only some merit. those who do not know that torrents or downloading like that is not just violating their rights, it hurts them too.. might actually NOT do it anymore. Just my thought. I may be dreamy, but i stopped using even legit copies from friend's or office disks of OS or productivity suits almost after my teens and definitely once i could make a fair earning for myself.
what if your like switerzland who genuinlinly believe art, source, and content are all a freedom for every man woman and child. why the fuck do they care about stealing content if they are fucking teachers. everything they say is highly offensive. 'other creatives' fucking makes me sick people's ego tigger fucks them and they dont even cucking know it
Are you really surprised that people are torrenting your videos?REALLY? a single video costs more than a FULL minimum wage here in brazil! that's two months of work just to watch one video! your business model is stuck in the 90's.
thelbp somewhat agree. 300 USD is a lot of money for the market they are targeting, amateur photographers. I am curious how they arrived at that number instead of a little cheaper.
RU-vid search how to photograph and get all the same tips without the fancy decor. And free. But i guess peeps feel that having the info for free, ins't as good as the same info you get for hundreds of $
Sgt Doss this. Also, like they said in the video. If you're going to pirate, fine whatever. But the nerve of someone to steal a product then going to give a review of it as if they spent the money on it, even going as far as emailing the developer.
Sgt Doss, you're spot on. I don't see why people are pirating this stuff when you could easily string a few youtube videos together and learn the same thing.
Sgt Doss, FStop was created so they can travel the globe and use it as a tax write off. Quality videos are just a bonus. FStop subcontracts to Brazzers, just look at the lighting and video editing, it's flawless. +1
I always believed in "try before buy". Especially with things that are hard to hand out as limited demos. People don't buy the cat in the bag. If You are confident in the quality of your productions and people see the value of it as well, they will buy it even if they can get it for free.
And oddly enough this specific case could tarnish their brand. If I wanted to check out a $300 tutorial and watched this and believed this was what I'd get for $300. Their product would be off the table at that point.
WinRAR did an amazing job curving piracy. Instead of selling their software only, they opted to give them away free for trial that never expired. For home users, they don't care about the pop up asking for payment when they can just decline it but companies will be willing to buy the licenses to avoid legal issue. This pretty much eliminated piracy of WinRAR software.
the reason people pirate these videos is because they're $300 bucks a pop. It's the same reason why people who want to edit photos pirate photoshop, your content isn't accessible to the vast majority of amateur photographers thats around half a paycheck for alot people.
300$ for 20h of content seems rational to me. Here is not about a guy talking to a camera in a studio, they have to cover all the expenses of months of travel and the equipment and Elia is a world class photographer and educator, he doesn't do charity this way, it is his job. And btw a shitty webinar will cost you the same.
" we proudly announce that we did something that over hundreds of game developers did before us, but we act as if we are the first and smartest people to come up with the idea".
The only way to stop piracy is to end poverty. And with greedy people like these guys, trust me, poverty will never end. They should make cheaper content instead of being so greedy.
This is why there are specific uploaders that become popular and so if you see a torrent with 0 seeders you won't click. If someone downloaded it they'd immediately see it's wrong and the only way they can seed is by having it fully downloaded, so good luck having a torrent at the bottom of the bin sorry had to ruin it
I get the joke. For me as a photographer, I use free tutorials. I don't use any file sharing service such as Vuze or BitTorrent. I used that for music once upon a time but for photography courses, no. And because of the free content, my knowledge of lighting and photography has increased ten fold. But I don't disparage anyone for trying to make money. FStoppers is a business. A fun business but a business, nonetheless. If I felt I could afford to go for paid tutorials, I'd probably buy Phlearn's tutorials. Mr. Nace's style is easy to understand and he seems to really enjoy what he does (judging by the free content he releases). This is not a knock on you guys. I think you guys are awesome, traveling to exotic locals, being able to get some unique photos. But I also think that there is a niche for basic photography and as value to me is the stuff you do local locally (i.e. Patrick's trip to the Park and his photo adventures in Charleston during a measurable snow a few months ago). I don't know exactly my point of my comment but it may be agreeing with you all on the paid content but arguing for truncated free content at times as well.
Thanks Ron. We try to do a mix of content for sure. It's easy for us to produce intro to photography type content for Free on youtube but once we team up with photographers who are making good money day in and day out, we really need to charge for it to cover their time, our time, the production costs, etc etc. So yes, you can learn a ton of info from free videos online but most of the top photographers who are making a good living at photography aren't sharing their tips and secrets for free on youtube. Thanks for enjoying my snow shoot by the way - Patrick
I think there is one slight difference that they didn't make clear is that there is a significant difference between torrenting/stealing to consume YOURSELF vs torrenting/stealing to CLAIM AS YOUR OWN. They are saying if that is the same thing. It is different to say I downloaded a movie to watch vs i downloaded your video and released it in the public's eyes so I can make money off of it or saying that it is my own content. Is pirating wrong? Absolutely, because if you truly enjoy someone's content, you should pay to support that artist. But what if someone doesn't have that luxury? What if say a 12 year old kid who picked up his father's camera, found a passion in it, and wanted to learn more? Now Im in no way saying that everyone who pirates your tutorials are 12yr old kids or ppl that can't afford it, but the fact is. You have possibly changed one single person's life tremendously because of pirating. Or you have GAINED fans because people before didn't trust the quality of your content but once they torrented one of them, they now support you and bought your tutorials. There may be someone who is spreading your name because they once torrented your video and found you informative. The truth of the matter is, if that person was going to pirate it, chances are, they would've never bought it in the first place. Despite how terrible pirating is made out to be. Sometimes there are benefits that may exceed your expectations
Nice. Thank you for your highly educated and sophisticated comment with sound arguments and detailed explanation. Always appreciate a civil and constructive debate.
300$ per tutorials ? I'm sure there's a market for it, like people who are actually making money from their photography work... As an humble Canon 450D owner, i'll stick to youtube videos and reddit if I need to learn something.
Kémy perfectly legit approach. There is plenty of ad-funded (free to view) content out there, and that is more than you'll ever need. For me I love getting in depth and immersed in learning - and for that I'm happy to pay - either subscription service or tutorials like these.
It's like everything, you get what you pay for. When you pay 300$ for a tutorial, you are investing in your education, it's not about the 15 hours of video. it's about the value, and the value is about what you feel it can bring to you, and how it can lead you to grow into what you would like to become. 15 hours of tutorial, 300$ = 20$ an hour, access to resources, private groups, interactions, meeting new people, connecting with peers around the world, and reviewing it over and over again, offline, from your phone, or wherever, and taking notes, practicing etc. You are right @Kémy there are free tutorials ad-funded on RU-vid, and free as in legally free which is great, and many are really valuable too. It's just another approach and I can say for having purchased a few from Fstoppers and RGGEDU, that each one, and the 300$ invested, has brought me a minimum of 1 or 2 key elements which have earned me 10 times more either in time gained (time charged to the client or spent with my family), or improved workflow.
What you see as hypocrisy is perfectly justified: Artists are typically barely scraping a living so if people use their content without permission it really screws them over, and they certainly can't afford overpriced tutorials and software. Whereas the people who make those tutorials are, at least in your case, wealthy enough to visit many of the most beautiful locations in the world. As for companies that make software, they typically have money coming out of their ears. I'm not a disgruntled pirate photographer, but it does annoy me when I see wealthy people whining that people aren't forking out money for their overseas trips. The people you're complaining about are probably freelancers, and if you think you're getting a bad deal then they're getting a faceful of excrement. At best, freelancers are paid less than a hired worker would get, at worst their employer refuses to pay them for work they've already done.
Very misleading title. You don't talk about what happened at all. A more apt title would be "How We Made a Satirical Episode of our Series for Pirates" .
I thought that olive garden was in Italy? I'm not sure I believe you when you say you went it to in North CHS - I know they all look the same... but....
Good work gents. I whole heartedly applaud you defending your content. I’m a musician and piracy (streaming being the nail in the coffin) is partly the reason our industry has been devalued beyond recognition! Thanks for the great RU-vid content! 👍🙏🏻
Scopolamin, in reality it’s some guy who’s paying his way through collage on his own and can barely afford his apartment and the good he eats... so he opted not to pay 300 dollars for a video he doesn’t know will be useful and might not know he’s “pirating”....yeah real scumbag.😒 The fact that they don’t have to fly around the world to take amazing pictures doesn’t help there case. Any real artist can find beauty anywhere. Even at an Olive Garden with puddle full of trash. Like you can interrupt that the trash is a man made object defiling nature’s life essence! While the reflection of the Olive Garden also represents the amount humanity has tainted! But no they see it as a “joke to give a full REAL lesson about”....this video is a “I’m a victim because I spend personal money to go around the world and you guys won’t buy my videos for a huge amount of money that’s meant to teach amateurs, when you could get it for free”
Scopolamin, plus the fact that they admit that they have “pirated” someone else’s work! And that’s only 50 seconds in to the video! How the hell can anyone feel bad for these retards!?
People are poor. Usually they'd love to support artists, if they could. But that would mean not eating. If there were some way to support artists other than with money, I bet a lot of these tutorial pirates would jump at it. Music and movie thieves, not so much. But when you want to learn a skill and you're broke as a joke, what can you do? Doesn't make pirating right, but I'm pretty sure many people out there would agree.
kevnar but then you also have lots of assholes who are like "it's for the exposure lol", and don't bother paying for art because they don't realize/care that it's a *paying job* that people make a living on
@Darticus the Great It's not a "paying job" unless someone is willing to pay them for it. Just because people are interested enough to download something for free, or stand around while a busker beats on some plastic buckets, that doesn't mean they'd pay whatever price the creator is asking for if the free alternative wasn't available. If a creator can't figure out a way to make money, that's their own entrepreneurial problem to solve. falkvinge.net/2011/01/31/how-shall-the-artists-get-paid/
> when you want to learn a skill and you're broke as a joke, what can you do? uhh, learn your skill from the 99.9% of sources that don't cost as much/any money instead? :P
Agree. They pay for these exotic vacations with that shit. "Be sure to buy our tutorial for $300, we want to keep going to Fiji and Bora Bora and taking photos." Yeah that's the job I want too.
I just bought you PTW4 yesterday. I really appreciate the amount of work that went into it. If people didn't pay for your time and effort then none of this content would be available . Thank you!
I love it when people make a fake version of some content, and then someone posts on a forum that they have a problem with their copy of the content, which makes it obvious to everyone else that they pirated it.
I was just about to put the same. so I go to there website thinking that its gona be like 50$ then see it for 300$ why would some one spend 300$ on something that could be utter shit.
So don't buy it and don't torrent it? Research and gain the skills some other way? I really don't understand how something being high priced justifies downloading it for free via some other means the creators didn't offer. I can't afford a Sony A7R III, should I just go steal it?
Cool you spent a day or two filming and editing something someone will download then delete in 5 minutes, then find another one of your tutorials and download that.
But you don't get it. They're "teaching them a lesson." See? You must have missed that part where he said the thing about the lesson. The pirates aren't going to find another tutorial because they're going to learn a lesson. It's genius. Brilliant, even. They're the first ones to ever even think of something like this, and it's going to rock the world to its core. Everyone who downloads unauthorized copies will now pay whatever price anyone asks for anything ever.
I have seen my (illegal) vids shared on Facebook lots. I find it bloody irritating. Scumbags who can’t be creative themselves, or put in the work, presenting your work as their own. Just the worst sort of humans.
I'm glad I stumbled across this video in my feed. I definitely need to improve my skills and get back into my hobby. in hopes to turn it into a career. you've sold me into checking out your site and buying your tutorials once I can afford it.
Your business model is flawed and you are blaming the consumers? I guess I have to point out reality: data that can be endlessly copied at no cost does not have value because it is not scarce. The business models of the old world are not compatible with the internet. Perhaps you should switch to a pay-what-you-want model and rely on extremely dedicated whales to support your work. If that means that you can't get enough money to support yourselves, then what you were offering wasn't worth that price and you should look to reinvent yourselves or get a real job. It does look like you'd be able to survive or even thrive a switch of business model, because if you look at what you'e got right now in a different light, it means there are people that love what you do and want to support you to get more content, to an extent that they spend money on your website, when it would've been far easier and cheaper for them to find it on thepiratebay instead. In essence, it means they are already donating to you. Viewing it as them buying your content is just the wrong paradigm. This video is the first time I've heard of you, but it seems pretty clear that the demand is there.
Doesn't paying for the digital content you want go completely against your first statement that data that can be simply copied should be free? Do you think people should pay for software? What about movies?
1) I'm saying you can't force people to not simply copy data. Instead of trapping yourself in an infinite loop of trying to punish pirates, what I think you should really be doing is adjusting how you do things so as to make it so piracy can't affect you, or even better, to use it to your advantage. 2 and 3) Thinking of software with that paradigm is what's causing the issue with piracy. Perhaps the better questions is "Do you think people should pay for the continued development of your software or your next project?" Are you getting enough from the supporters of your previous project to fund the next? If so, then by all means, continue onwards. If not, look at what else you can do to support yourself. I think having a forward-facing attitude is better for sustaining and growing your digital content creation business. The typical way is past-facing and focuses on protecting what you've already done, which means resources spent (time, effort, money, etc) with marginal or negative returns that would be better used working on the next thing. Then again, most of this is just philosophical musings, It's up to you whether to take it to heart, or if it can be successfully translated into reality.
@Fstoppers To add to @· 0xFFF1 and to answer your question directly, no, paying for digital content you wish to pay for doesn't go against the notion that data which is available should be freely available. There are plenty of examples of people paying for things they could get for free. A lot of the time, this is called a "donation." Patreon is a modern example of consumers patronizing creators for work they could often easily get for free. (Even when content or rewards are made available exclusively to paying patrons, these are often quite modest and worth less than what the patrons are giving.) Ultimately, · 0xFFF1 is right, price is determined by supply and demand, and the less scarce something is the less of a price it will be able to command. The notion that a person should be able to artificially limit the supply of something (i.e. forcibly prevent other people from duplicating it using their own materials) is a regressive philosophy, not a progressive one. Ideas and patterns are not property, copying isn't theft, and attempting to maintain a 19th century business model in the digital age is shortsighted, to say the least.
I get that it cost you a LOT of your own time, money and hard work to produce these tutorials, but $300 is just so much money. Would you not get vastly more revenue by making these tutorials significantly cheaper? And by that, I mean regular DVD/Blu Ray prices. I can never fathom why photographers always have to make these so prohibitively expensive, as proven by the fact they usually end up offering ridiculous sales of 50% or more at some point. You have 17 tutorials! Do you think we're all millionaires or something?
To add to the above. You did an experiment torrenting a fake tutorial. Why don't you try making a real tutorial with Elia, where he goes to just one location, explains the setup, shot, etc, and sell that for just $20 or something, and see how many more sales you get from that? Maybe you would actually earn more?
I'm sure that people would pay $20 to see a 30 minute tutorial for particular Elia Locardi shots. People could then choose the shots/locations they personally are most interested in knowing more about, and I'm sure people would buy many. I know I would.
There are usually two things that tend to be an issue when looking for legitimate material like tutorials, software, etc. The first is knowing what you're getting. If I encounter something for the first time and am asked to pay for it, I'd like to know it's gonna be worth it. Having some sort of preview helps in that regard. The second is often a lack of concern for entry level - what happens if I want to eventually get into a more professional job, but am currently working at a Walmart? It can be difficult sometimes to get together a large sum of money. Some of the more sensible places will offer different price points, but that's not always the case.
This is amazing and I love that people ended up complaining about the fact that is was fake even tho they didn't pay for it lol! Great work you guys are awesome!
Tech Connect, RU-vid Red is a SCAM. People who actually pay to have it, are not the sharpest crayon in the box. Most of what you can do on RU-vid Red, you can do absolutely FREE without it.
red is torrent-ed putlocker is god. no ads. i hate having to pay 5 time to see 4 or 5 hours of content and some time they dont even put out a tv show our they change the scheduled and its annoying. i have to pay $60 dollars a month for basic cable. watch a ton of ads that i dont care about. and i cant do it on my time frame. if i want to do it on my time frame i have to pay another $60 dollars a month. if i want to watch a movie i have to go to the theater pay $15 to $20 after taxes and other crap to have some kid on their cell or some baby cry the entire movie. plus i don't like movie theaters for the fact they are gun free zones. if im not going to have my pistol with me i better be allowed to drink. nope cant do that they do not server alcohol. can i have a cigarette or cigar nope no smoking. can i pause it and go to the bathroom nope.
I used to work for a software company and the staff were by far the worst I've ever seen for stealing and using cracked software. Perhaps it's a per-industry thing?
I'd never heard of you guys or your tutorial series before running across this video. In addition to being highly entertained, I'm now interested in trying out your tutorial series at some point down the line when I can afford it. In other words, by poking fun at the illegal downloaders, you've also expanded market awareness and interest in your product. Well done!
3 Soul Coins on the Blood Chain? Seriously though, even if I was willing to shill, you couldn't afford me with your broke ass. I doubt you're even on the blood chain.
I'd love to buy some of your tutorials but the price is just too high. That said ive never torrented one of your videos either. Would you consider going down the lower price/higher volume route because id love to watch some of them.
Same deal for me. I know it's expensive to produce, but you're pricing a lot of people out. For people who are just getting started with photography, buying a PTW series costs almost as much as their camera body. Perhaps you could sell each episode individually to get some sales from smaller fish and impulse buyers.
Totally agree with you guys. It's just a huge investment for casual photographers. Maybe they don't want casuals, they are selling to people looking to go pro, but there are way more casual photographers out there than pros.
I'm not a photographer and I've never heard of your series, but RU-vid showed me this video and now I want to watch the fake video because it sounds funny. Thanks for uploading it.
This will do nothing to tackle piracy, but must have been great fun to make, confused a load of people, and brought you a ton of new views from people like me... I love it.
This is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! Purchased the wedding tutorial and was worth it 100% I am saving up for another tutorial because I learned so much and it isnt even as in depth as the ones you do now! Thank you for all you guys do for the community! Hands down one of my favorite RU-vid channels! -TJ
Thanks TJ. The wedding one means a lot to us because it was our personal giving back tutorial and we've seen it change so many people's lives. But I agree, the stuff the other photographers are teaching can be even more valuable if you aren't in the wedding business
I don't get it. So you made a joke tutorial (at a fairly significant cost to your time) and released it yourself for free as a torrent, it got downloaded (thanks in part to some deception on your part) and that teaches people a lesson in piracy?
it's funny, as i became a photographer i stopped downloading anything because I didn't like people stealing my pictures. from songs to movies, I'm all legit, I even bought one of your tutorial series. keep up the good work guys.
Isn't photography basically just piracy? What's the difference between making a copy of a movie, or taking a picture of something you didn't make, and then selling it as your own work?
As someone who has spent hours designing 3D digital models, yes it is very irritating when someone steals my work. And it is even more so irritating when people contact me, asking for a full permissions copy of my work while claiming someone they know got a full permissions copy of my work. And a lot of that is often due to people making the assumption of content being released under a General public license or being submitted as Public Domain Licensed work when it is not. And the problem you are describing is not something limited to photography work, music or gaming content as it also extends in to registered trade marks such as Harley Davidson, Coke Cola, Pepsi, Gucci, Ford, Chevy, GMC, Dodge and even apple iPhone and small companies like Fore Arm Forklift and it is putting people out of business.
If you torrented your own content, then it was a Legal Torrent! (Gosh! Legal content on Bittorrent!) You just proved not everything downloaded as a torrent is "pirated" or "illegal." Just like for VCRs, there are legal uses for Bittorrent transfers.
Same thing happened with some video games. They put obvious glitches in their pirated version, and the people who complained about the glitched outted themselves as pirates.
FFS are people really arguing and defending stealing their work? It's their work, their tutorials. They put the price they want to. You are not happy about the price? Look for someones else tutorials. But don't pirate their work and come here and start defending piracy....
