What does it mean if you buy a pirated book, movie or music CD? Short question....But like most short questions, it requires a long answer. It might look simple to most of us: if we buy a pirated book, we read the same thing but pay less. If we buy a pirated CD, we can listen to a singer we like and spend the rest of the money for other things.
Is it that simple? I'm sure lots of you have heard of the expression, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." If you pay less, there must be something different besides the printing quality. Where does the rest of the money go when we buy the original? All to the producer and the artist? If you think so, I strongly recommend that you think more deeply.
Let me put it in a different way: what goes into producing a novel sold in a bookstore? Just the story and the printing process? What about the designers who work on the page setup and the cover? If it's a translation, what about the translator?
Let's consider a music album. Is it only the singer who earns money from it? Right now, I have Sting's latest album in front of me. Can you make a guess as to the number of the people besides Sting who "gave birth" to this product? Twelve engineers and assistants...and 24 musicians...plus photographers, designers, managers....I'm sure Sting doesn't depend on the money he'll earn from this album, but what about all the others? I don't think they all have a huge house in Toscana like Sting does. So, what makes it fair to enjoy the results of their efforts and give nothing in return?
When we put it this way, it's not hard to guess why most of the writers and musicians in Turkey are either sons/daughters of YTL millionaires or have other jobs. Who has the right to expect more from them, if even İlhan Şeşen decided to quit professional musicianship and go back to his law bureau because he couldn't earn a living from Gündoğarken's albums?
The equation is simple: If these people--writers, musicians, singers, actors/actresses, managers, etc.--earn their living by producing the things we take from them without paying, what's the difference between being a customer of pirated products and being a thief? Tell me if you have an answer, because I definitely don't.

İsmail O. Postalcıoğlu (POLS/II)