EU withheld a study that shows piracy doesn't hurt sales (2017)
Distribution bullshit hurts sales more than piracy.<p>"You can only watch this two months after the US release", "This isn't available in your country", "You need an internet connection to watch this", "You can't watch this on Linux", "You need to pay for 170 channels to watch one", "This that one show you want to watch requires a £12.99 monthly subscription", "You will pay cinema prices but will have to supply the TV, seating and only get to play it back once", "You will pay new-DVD prices but won't be able to share it with a friend"<p>We pretend that the surge of Netflix, Prime, Disney online services means this is getting more open, more free, but it the same game via a different medium.<p>Piracy still offers a better service, less bullshit. If they stopped treating people like criminals, yes, they might lose some cash, but they'd also pull in the people they've lost to years of abuse.