Two nights ago, while engrossed in reading the 1979-1980 edition of “The Complete Peanuts,” (it’s important to keep up on industry reading, you know), I was struck by the foresight of the January 17, 1979 strip by Charles M. Schulz:

Who could have predicted in 1979 how big of an issue content piracy would become in 2012. The debate goes on in different ways in book, music, video and all kinds of arts publishing.

I’ve not looked too much into the history of piracy and how well-known of an issue it was in 1979, but I can’t imagine it was a prevalent as it is now.

Just last night, a friend of mine was streaming the new Avengers film. I know there are always people out there filming these things, and I realize some people can’t wait, but I don’t understand why  you’d want to see the film in the poor quality it was being shown in the pirated online streaming format. I watched a little, and it was nearly unwatchable – and this doesn’t even consider the lengths to which I would go to see this early.

Music, on the other hand… I understand the reasons and rights musicians have toward making money from their music, but these days, the movement and sharing of music – whether free or paid – is probably the most important tool in their marketing tool kit. It seems most musicians have realized this and embraced it, as there are more bands touring and hitting the festival circuit now than ever before.

Books, on the other hand. It’s hard to get people to read books when they pay for them, so I’m not sure the industry should spend as much time fighting this as encouraging it. If the electronic readers made it easier to share books, I would think that could only help the industry and encourage word of mouth.

But this post really wasn’t really intended as a weigh in on piracy so much as just sharing, illegally, a Charles M. Schulz comic from 1979 that talks about piracy.

A thing like that…

– My name is Jon Friesch, and in so many ways, I think Peanuts has always been ahead of societal evolution.