I love free.
I am the first to admit that I can be rather cheap. I have a hard time spending more than $100 on anything. Don’t get me wrong, I do (a lot), it’s just hard.
I love sites that offer free stuff (especially music). I even tweet out links to free music downloads I find throughout the internet. These downloads are from music blogs that legally get the right to share music (usually for promotional purposes).
I love free when it is freely given. I don’t love free when it is forcibly taken.
I hate stealing.
Yesterday I ran across a site that literally took my breath away. It was a bit torrent site.
For those of you who don’t know what bit torrent sites are, here’s a quick run-down. A bit torrent site is basically was Napster was back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. It’s a peer-to-peer file sharing site. The mechanics are a little different, but it’s the same idea.
There are bit torrent sites for music, movies, books and probably a thousand other products – anything that can be found in digital form.
Yesterday I found a bit torrent site featuring photography products (templates, educational products, etc) from throughout the industry. Think of a name, and they are probably on this site.
The site has protected itself by not actually hosting the products. The products are shared via a forum where people trade and give-away digital items they have purchased.
It made me sick. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Friends.
I personally know and care about many of the people whose products are listed. Sarah Petty, Lori Nordstrom, Vicki Taufer, WHCC, Sandy Puc and more. There are others that I don’t know, but I admire from a distance.
This hurts them and their businesses. It steals from them.
2. Prevents new products from being made.
All of these photographers/businesses create and sell products to make money. If they don’t make money, they won’t continue to sell these products.
When the business doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense to continue the business. The business (and products) go away.
3. It’s stealing.
No way around it. It’s stealing, and the people on these sites know it.
In one post a person scolded another for listing a direct link to a site they wanted a product from. It would show up in the product maker’s stats. This is how I found the site myself.
4. It destroys a value so important to photographers.
The copyright to images created is the lifeblood of the photography industry.
It’s the very thing so worrisome to photographers in this digital age. How do you protect your copyright?
Yet photographers are turning around and doing the very same thing to themselves! And let’s be honest, it’s not just photography products. Photographers do the same thing with music all the time.
Please. Be above this.
Most likely, most of you reading this will never visit the site mentioned above or any like it. But will you do the same type of thing off-line? Will you share products with friends and colleagues?
I ask that you don’t.
I don’t make a lot of money doing this. My friends aren’t buying Benz’s and jets. They are making a living – some better and others not as much. They are providing all of us with a service.
Let’s help them continue.
Note: I purposely did not give a link to the mentioned site. If you sell products to photographers, feel free to contact me to get a link.
Header image courtesy of flickr/zawtowers
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