Why did the motion-picture industry worry about online piracy after music file sharing became common?

The motion-picture industry grew concerned about online piracy after observing the music industry's struggle with file-sharing services like Napster. The recording industry saw a significant decline in revenue as MP3 files were easily distributed across peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, leading to a fundamental shift in how artistic material was consumed and distributed.12

The film industry feared a similar "video Napster" scenario as broadband access expanded. Although movie files were significantly larger—requiring more time and computing power to distribute—the emergence of services like The Pirate Bay demonstrated that users were willing to share large files, including movies and electronic games.13

To protect their intellectual property, studios campaigned for digital rights management (DRM) software to be integrated into DVDs and home theater hardware. Ultimately, the industry recognized that preventing all unauthorized viewing was difficult, prompting a shift toward legitimate, advertiser-supported streaming and video-on-demand services to provide consumers with convenient, legal alternatives.31