A question of ethics....

[CatfishHunter]

This is ridiculous.

It's a few copies, fellas. Get a grip. And don't think the lurkers here are naive to believe that no one on here has ever done some type of freeloading. I download all of my music for free, and most of my movies, too. Why? Because Julia Roberts and George Clooney make over $10 million dollars a movie a piece, and it's probably closer to $20 million a piece. Pop musicians do pretty well, too. They haven't suffered too greatly due to the iPod craze. Justin Timberlake isn't starving on the corner. It's a few copies of some pool matches between buddies, and I don't think either one of the parties is going to be dumb enough to make enough copies for distribution and illegal sales. The tapes were already bought once, anyway. Screw the ethics of it, Pat Fleming does very well from what I have seen. Besides, only some douche would narc on you, anyways.

 

[Da Poet]

No,my post is about ethics and doing the right thing.The right thing which is in people's hearts,not by some written law!

I thought your premise for starting this thread was honorable and raised some good points, but I think in your original post, you may have been a little hard on yourself.

Understandably, most distibutors are militantly opposed to any copies of any kind. But at the same time, the more people that see the product, the more likely they are to ultimately buy it.

IMO, if you are copying a video and sending it to someone who has never seen an accuestat video, you're probably helping build accuestats' audience and in the long term, you are likely helping their bottom line. If you're distributing copies to someone who is already part of their audience and most importantly, fully capable of buying the video on their own, then you're hurting accuestats' bottom line.

I have a friend who is a DJ at a local college radio station (non-profit) and I send her copies of CD's all the time. Occasionally she will play some of the music I give her. I really don't think any of the artists or distibutors would object to this. Some might, but that would be extremely shortsighted of them.


Good thread!

 

[jay helfert]

Accu-Stats

All I can say is Thank God for Pat Fleming and Accu-Stats. Wihtout his body of work, most of the greatest pool matches in recent history would be merely "performance art", meaning you had to be there to see it.

Unlike other sports where the top athletes are continually recorded for television, professional pool players have been rarely put on television (with the modern women players an exception).

Thanks to Pat Fleming and his crew, you can quickly find matches featuring the greatest players of the last two decades. He is the greatest historian of players (legends) like Efren Reyes and Buddy Hall, who will surely be talked about and compared to other players for many generations.

Even the past generation of greats like Ronnie Allen, Eddie Kelly, Jersey Red, Cornbread, Ervolino, Boston Shorty et al are for the most part lost to posterity. THANKS PAT, glad I could be of service to you. In fact my tresury of tapes from working Accu-Stats matches is the best collection I have of my own commentary.

 

[TATE]

I recently attempted to try an get a few people from here to exchange matches on tape with me.Them make copies of what they have for copies of what I have.
Anyway,it suddenly occurred to me that this was very unethical.Accu-Stats is a very respectable business and by making copies on the side it cuts into their income.This goes on enough and there will be no more Accu-Stats.They will go under from lack of income.I know that is the extreme,but I just felt that I wanted to share my thoughts with everyone else on this matter.
So,I just apologize to those I tempted and also to Pat Fleming and the rest of the Accu-Stats crew for my lack of consideration.I love Accu-Stats and have been a supporter of them in the past.
Sincerely,
John

Morally and legally it is wrong but it is very widespread and would be impossible to stop on a small scale basis.

The music industry went after the end user. They had clean records of who downloaded what, and sued each individual who downloaded songs. I know of several who paid $3,000 to $5,000 or more in settlements plus attorney fees. Accustats doesn't have that option because there are no records.

Accustats should adjust to the changing technology. They could probably do it by adjusting their pricing strategy and coming up with more secure formats for distibution.

Chris

 

[kaznj]

Companies like accu stats can help by monitoring ebay. I buy used originals watch them and resell. I believe this is legal. Occasionally I am sent an illegal copy. I contact the seller and demand my money back. I do not buy or sell stolen merchandise. I have even contacted Kinnister and told him someone was selling copies of his stuff. There is someone on ebay right now selling illegal copies of Schmidt's 245 ball run. I bought one thinking is was just a used copy. It wasn't. The seller refused to refund the money. I contacted paypal and they got my money back. I threw the DVD out.