Torrents, pirates, f**kers!

[Sampleconstruct]

I wonder, how they get the content? Do they hack the server on which it's hosted or some buyer creates the torrent?

I am getting ready to release my first commercial soundset soon. So just gathering info for my knowledge.

I actually sent the guy who purchased the set last week and which was torrented today an email, asking if he did it, haven't received an answer yet.

So the guy I contacted yesterday asking if he was involved in the latest torrent event replied today in a very polite manner, saying that he didn't do it, which I believe is true. So it was just another one of those coincidences. For me this case is closed now, I'll move on awaiting the next piracy within the next month or so.

Thank's to all for chiming in here, this feels good and means a lot to me.

[tq]

To cheer you up a little bit: I bought Padshop Pro a few days ago - only because I wanted to use Granular Guitars. (Well, I have to admit that I bought Padshop Pro via the KvR marketplace, but still, the quality of your work produced two sales at once...)

Needless to say that the sounds are exceptional, and Padshop is a great addition to my setup, too.

Regarding piracy: I think you're right about not trying to fight piracy at the cost of your lifetime, at least if you're not in the market for singular, high priced products (where your company's survival depends on that ONE product). It's probably not worth it - the 'fans' of your sound sets will buy them anyway, even if they're available via torrent sites. And I am somewhat doubtful that the rest would pay for a soundset, anyway...

I think in your case, the best way to fight piracy is 'word of mouth' - users telling other users how incredible your sounds are.

[Sampleconstruct]

To cheer you up a little bit: I bought Padshop Pro a few days ago - only because I wanted to use Granular Guitars. (Well, I have to admit that I bought Padshop Pro via the KvR marketplace, but still, the quality of your work produced two sales at once...)

Needless to say that the sounds are exceptional, and Padshop is a great addition to my setup, too.

Regarding piracy: I think you're right about not trying to fight piracy at the cost of your lifetime, at least if you're not in the market for singular, high priced products (where your company's survival depends on that ONE product). It's probably not worth it - the 'fans' of your sound sets will buy them anyway, even if they're available via torrent sites. And I am somewhat doubtful that the rest would pay for a soundset, anyway...

I think in your case, the best way to fight piracy is 'word of mouth' - users telling other users how incredible your sounds are.

Thank's for your post, that makes my early afternoon
I think, I really have to think about those buy out deals with Steinberg again...

[emasters]

Hey Simon - sorry about the frustration you're going through with this. Sadly, it seems to be an all-to-common occurrence any more. I do wonder how much revenue you lose with this? I suspect the folks (like me) who like and value your work and are willing to pay, will purchase regardless of pirated versions being out there. It's clear the only way to keep new material coming, is to compensate the developer(s). Of the folks who download copies from a torrent site -- it's not clear how many would ever pay you for the work. So is it unfair they get a copy without paying - absolutely! Does it impact your revenue? Hard to know by how much. I guess you would have a better feel for this. As a customer of yours, it's equally discouraging to think folks steal products without having to pay. But in the end, if you or your customers get pulled into this, it becomes a distraction and ruins the positive vibe from what you accomplish. I think the goal is to continue producing great products (as you do), keep your customers coming back for more, and perhaps some of those folks who download a pirated copy will realize at some point, the value and actually end up purchasing something. I know that may be overly optimistic, but it helps to keep it all in perspective. Looking forward to you upcoming Serum release - keep up the great work!

-Ed

[Sampleconstruct]

Thank's for chiming in, Ed and for the kind words.

I discussed this revenue-topic yesterday on the patchpool facebook page with someone and worded my reply like this:

...well I know that argument and it may be partially true, but sales stats often speak a different language if you compare them over a longer period of time. I think there are two kinds, those who only use torrented stuff because they don't actually need it for their work and give a f**k about ethics, and those who only buy stuff if they can't get it on a torrent site (and give a f**k about ethics). Also half of the market does not consist of professionals, but of hobbyists who suffer from GAS and want everything NOW, even if they can't afford it.

So basically when looking at the figures over a longer period of time, torrenting does indeed affect revenues. And that bad-vibe-thing certainly is a factor, although events like this usually only tend to de-motivate me for a few hours or so. But I had 3 torrents within the last 5 weeks so it's getting worse and it does affect me in some way for sure.

Nevertheless I'm euphoric and excited about the two libraries which are currently in the making and will continue...

[BBFG#]

I'm not supporting or defending those that use torrents for their supply, but there is one more type of person that downloads from torrent sites. The poor that can't get it any other way. It doesn't justify what they do in any way. Sometimes these people will buy the real version when they have the ability to do it, but I know that its more often they won't. Getting caught up in a pattern of abusing what they can. All I'm saying is its not as easy to stick these people into such absolute boxes of despicable people as some are just desperate. I know I have paid for another person's software when I found they were using something torrented because they couldn't afford it otherwise.

TBH, the idea of torrents has always presented me with a paranoia I associate with getting more than one bargains for.
i.e. Viruses; trojans; illegal and disgusting porn, etc.

And it still sucks that designers that don't make a 'killing' off of anyone get ripped off like this.

I hope you find a workable solution.

[Sampleconstruct]

I believe every human has the right to eat and drink so she/he can survive, I don't believe people should be able to have access to everything they want to have, even if they can't afford it (so the wording "desperate" doesn't really convince me here). If someone who is starving goes into a shop and steals an apple, sure, no worries, let him have it, but if someone is stealing software because he desperately wants it, but can't afford it, she/he should go and visit a shrink or two.

Off to bed now designing some unheard sounds in my dreams

[BBFG#]

I believe every human has the right to eat and drink so she/he can survive, I don't believe people should be able to have access to everything they want to have, even if they can't afford it (so the wording "desperate" doesn't really convince me here). If someone who is starving goes into a shop and steals an apple, sure, no worries, let him have it, but if someone is stealing software because he desperately wants it, but can't afford it, she/he should go and visit a shrink or two.

I agree.
'Desperate' is really a euphemism for ethically ignorant here.
Sometimes, breaking that ignorance takes something more to break their bubble and get them to adopt those ethics though. I get most annoyed when I read some dj/producer article justifying some misguided belief that 'pirating is the right of the people' and I blame them more than the economically challenged following their lead.

[Biome_Digital]

I wonder, how they get the content? Do they hack the server on which it's hosted or some buyer creates the torrent?

I am getting ready to release my first commercial soundset soon. So just gathering info for my knowledge.

All it takes is for 1 person to buy it (from any place available) and then share it. That's it, simple as, done. It will be spread far and wide in different countries in a matter of hours.

They spent £10 on your pack and countless web masters over the world will make god knows how much from ad revenue. We ARE in the wrong game, but then we don't sell crack either do we.

Just stick to good karma.

[BBFG#]

I wonder, how they get the content? Do they hack the server on which it's hosted or some buyer creates the torrent?
I am getting ready to release my first commercial soundset soon. So just gathering info for my knowledge.

All it takes is for 1 person to buy it (from any place available) and then share it. That's it, simple as, done. It will be spread far and wide in different countries in a matter of hours.
They spent £10 on your pack and countless web masters over the world will make god knows how much from ad revenue. We ARE in the wrong game, but then we don't sell crack either do we.
Just stick to good karma.

I was about to ask what their motivation could be for doing that, but I think you covered it.
If I read you right, they buy it with the express intent to share it as an enticement to their ad revenues?

(BTW, I've read where Jay-Z got his business skills from slinging crack.)

[Sampleconstruct]

We ARE in the wrong game, but then we don't sell crack either do we.

Just stick to good karma.

THIS! Well spoken

[2ZrgE]

I was about to ask what their motivation could be for doing that, but I think you covered it.
If I read you right, they buy it with the express intent to share it as an enticement to their ad revenues?

(BTW, I've read where Jay-Z got his business skills from slinging crack.)

If you upload to One Click Hosters, you get money for it - so people share bought stuff to get money.

Once read a figure that you can easily earn up to 2,000 bucks a month just by uploading stuff to the likes of Uploaded et. al.

[BBFG#]

Okay, I think I'm starting to understand a whole new level of disgust with them here.

[stardustmedia]

Maybe another (little) upside. I've seen a lot of piraters in my DAW-life and everytime I got the feeling they're just collecting stuff, but hardly use any of them. So most of the piraters wouldn't be actual buyers anyway if you'd have a fail safe copy protection. Most of them aren't pro musicians anyway, and if they become, maybe they will buy the stuff they use all the time.


A just had an idea to improve an old system: Instead of uploading yourself a fake torrent (with nothing or only crap in it), why not uploading a "light version" for free? Do it yourself through out the most popular torrent sites, before the actual release of the full version. Probably this won't prevent any of the warez, but maybe you can increase a little the sales.

[Oceanviewstudio]

Also half of the market does not consist of professionals, but of hobbyists who suffer from GAS and want everything NOW, even if they can't afford it.

Hi Simon,

I am going to out myself now. Ahem, there was a time, around 15 years ago, where I too had a lot of stuff that came to me by someone who I would call obsessive compulsive. It was just too tempting to be honest to have a look at all this stuff that he offered me. There was really everything in there, from nuendo to waves, to native instruments and literally every synthsoftware on the planet, from samples to synths to FX to hosts. At some stage he send me a package with more than 100 DVD's with compressed files from his downloaded stuff.

I spent many weeks trying out this and that, fascinated by this world of synths and samples I was getting into more deeply for the first time. I did not produce anything with all that for money I would like to add, never!

The chap who downloaded all this had a server in his setup and a few other goodies and was literally 24/7 at it. Also important, he did not do it for money, ever! I would call him a data shark, getting a kick out of sucking all this stuff for free. I mean, he could not even play keyboards half way decent, in fact I never heard anything that he might have created.

Years later I changed everything to macintosh, and all my PC stuff went into the trash, including all those gazillions of programs and tons of samples. ( I think I had everything that was ever created by AKAI and GIGA, EMU etc. to give you an idea about the scope.)

It was interesting and of course edcuational to have a look at all this stuff for a while, but today I have a totally different attitude to this.

There is not a single piece of stolen software in my possession anymore, all that I use, I paid for, and I value it much more than all the stuff I had before.

People make a living from creating these instruments, they feed their family from that so to speak, and that is my main consideration when I chose to not use this stuff anymore.

You know that I bought all the Alchemy stuff from you, and for what it's worth, had this been available with iLok only, this would not have been a deal stopper for me.

From the legal aspects, if you have a Rechtsschutzversicherung that covers it, I would find a good lawyer that is dealing with such on a regular basis, and with very little effort, you could have him send out Abmahnungen and Unterlassungserklärungen. It might help in the one or other case to stop them from posting your stuff.

All my best
Georg