[pliao39]

At a certain point - people are weighing the cost of the good (cable bundle, HBO Now, etc) vs the moral guilt + expected value of litigation (costs of piracy). When the cost is not absurd, (seems like most people are willing to pay $10-$15 a month), the decision is pretty clear (i.e. buy Netflix).

The middle man taking a cut is the problem. It jacks up the price to a point where it's too high - and piracy becomes extremely attractive (especially when it is more convenient to pirate a good than to buy it).

To me, the article is really describing why middle men in this supply chain harm both the creator and the consumer. That's why applying pricing pressure in the form of piracy actually benefits both the creator and consumer (and could potentially even help the middle man find the profit maximizing price, although that depends on the "Just Enough" piracy level).

But isn't this kind of true much of the time? Removing a superfluous middle man will reduce costs and make everyone better off. But unfortunately, the middle man often provides value - they aggregate lots of content and own the customer experience.

Businesses and technologies that attack the middle man are very interesting. Shopify for e-commerce is potentially another example.