I've been reading certain threads in this forum, and the topic of sharing has come up a few times. The answer is always that it is unethical, and the reason is because the creator will lose money.

However, I'd like to present a situation that is quite relevant in many cases, especially in younger magicians who have just formed an interest in magic (I suppose I'm included here).

Basically, if we decided that we would all be ethical and not share, we would have not enough money to buy much stuff. In some cases, we would not buy anything, as DVDs are expensive, and spending so much money on something that we may not be totally interested in is not something most people can afford, and then the creator would make no money at all. On the other hand, if we share materials with others interested in magic, we would be buying something, and the creator would be profiting. Viewing new materials would increase the interest in magic amongst these people, and then they would buy their own materials when they have the money.

The case that is usually presented is that if 5 people share a DVD, the creator would lose out on selling 4 DVDs. That is usually not the case, as the people would not buy that much stuff.

So, my first question would be: Do you think sharing of materials is ethical?

Another issue is selling second hand materials. If a person watches a DVD, figures the trick out, then resells it, the creator also does not make any money. Is this ethical?

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but the subtitle says something about ethics.. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

woah.. you make sense! well if you cant afford DVDs you can always go to shops and learn =S and anyway i dont think we should share the tricks even if your friend is a magicain and since he is a magicain there is no need to share the trick because i'm quite he can figure it out by himself. =) So if you dont share it, your magicain friend HAVE to get the DVD in order to know. he does not have enough money? if he really likes the effect he will save up and get it. ^_^

What about things like CDs or novels. Like you buy a Backstreet boys CD and after you get sick of it, you give it to your little cousins or a friend. Or when u finish reading the 'Da Vinci Code' and lends it to someone else. I'm sure many of us have done such things before. What about instead of going to the cinema, you buy the DVD and get a bunch of friends to come watch the movie at your house with you. What about such things? Aren't they the same as buying a effect and then sharing it with a friend? Why is it that we see the former as normal, but the latter as being unethical?

when you purchase an original DVD, it comes with the performing right. You have the right to perform the effect ONLY when you OWN the original copy.

Magic teaching videos are very different from BackStreet Boys CD/Movie. They dont teach you how to sing their songs in the CDs and singing/movie and magic is two different thing. Magic depends on secrecy of execution.

when you sell the DVD, you sell the performing right. It's unethical for you to perform the effect anymore.

:)

This is an interesting but controversial subject especially among asians.

Its like software.
You are not allowed to buy an original software, load it up in your pc and sell off the CD and the license.

If enforcement came to check, the software in your pc would be deemed not only unethical but illegal.

The rights to perform is the same, when you sell the book or DVD away, you sold your license to perform the effects in the book/DVD.