Help Us Stop Magic Piracy

Jul 13, 2014
176
27
Teaching magic isn't the problem teaching marketed effects and moves, with a living creator is the problem. A tutorial on the classic pass isn't that bad. Tutorials for things like dresscode, pressure, the clipshift, and the snap deal/laser deal are very bad. It is disrespectful, unethical, and far to common. Brian Brushwood is very careful about what he teaches on Scamschool and others should follow his example. Exposure is teaching something that you shouldn't or just exposing it. Teaching means you actually have a right to teach it.
 
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Apr 26, 2013
1
0
bieng a card magician i come up with new magic all the time its discusting how ppl lose out money cause of piracy
 
Jan 17, 2015
132
8
Teaching magic isn't the problem teaching marketed effects and moves, with a living creator is the problem. A tutorial on the classic pass isn't that bad. Tutorials for things like dresscode, pressure, the clipshift, and the snap deal/laser deal are very bad. It is disrespectful, unethical, and far to common. Brian Brushwood is very careful about what he teaches on Scamschool and others should follow his example. Exposure is teaching something that you shouldn't or just exposing it. Teaching means you actually have a right to teach it.


I agree.
Scam School is also a great channel and Brian is an honest man he only teaches classic effects and basic sleights which are not marketed and he always gets permission before teaching any marketed tricks or even invite the creator to teach the marketed trick like Marcus Eddie or Michael Ammar.
 
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Jun 21, 2014
6
3
Orlando, FL
I haven't read through this entire thread, but I'm sure this includes those youtube tutorials that start with something like, "I didn't buy this effect, but I'm pretty sure this is how it's done," It sickens me how many young and creative people who are looking to get their work out there and noticed have their work stolen from them by people looking to save two dollars. Magic is fun and nothing should detract from anyone's, creators or buyers, enjoyment. Piracy is not okay and is not acceptable, and you can depend on me and every other honest magician (Ha!) to report and put an end to this act. I'd like to start some hashtag where we can easily report a forum post or youtube video that violates this honor code.
 
Sep 16, 2011
15
2
Hi, I am putting my opinion in in a different prospective because I used to pirate magic books and DVDs when I was younger. I'm now 18 and have not pirated anything in 6 years, so please don't trash on me. Actualy to make up for my mistake I have bought every book and dvd I pirated in the past.(a magician from FL gave me that idea).
A couple people said people who pirate DVD's won't buy them anyway. I beg to differ. I used to check if I could get it online before I bought it, if I couldn't I normally would buy it. In my opinion, kids teaching tricks on YouTube is also a huge problem as well. It is much easier for people to find tricks there rather than pirates.
I think that for the YouTube people. We should send them a Personal Message(not comment) and say in a strong yet polite way how what they are doing is wrong and it is taking people's life work and ruining it. Also as Harry Lorayne said in Apocolypse "by copping this magazine, it lessees it's value to you." We could explain that if you reveal it on YouTube they won't be able to impress their friends with the trick. At the end we should kindly ask them to take the video down.

Lastly, I think it is great Theory 11 is doing this, but if they really want to help magic they would do something about the non-theory11 product as well.
 
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Apr 12, 2015
2
0
Hi, I am putting my opinion in in a different prospective because I used to pirate magic books and DVDs when I was younger. I'm now 18 and have not pirated anything in 6 years, so please don't trash on me. Actualy to make up for my mistake I have bought every book and dvd I pirated in the past.(a magician from FL gave me that idea).
A couple people said people who pirate DVD's won't buy them anyway. I beg to differ. I used to check if I could get it online before I bought it, if I couldn't I normally would buy it. In my opinion, kids teaching tricks on YouTube is also a huge problem as well. It is much easier for people to find tricks there rather than pirates.
I think that for the YouTube people. We should send them a Personal Message(not comment) and say in a strong yet polite way how what they are doing is wrong and it is taking people's life work and ruining it. Also as Harry Lorayne said in Apocolypse "by copping this magazine, it lessees it's value to you." We could explain that if you reveal it on YouTube they won't be able to impress their friends with the trick. At the end we should kindly ask them to take the video down.

Lastly, I think it is great Theory 11 is doing this, but if they really want to help magic they would do something about the non-theory11 product as well.

Kids teaching tricks on youtube is not a bad thing as it gets more people interested in magic and all the wonderful things it has to offer...
 
Mar 11, 2013
35
18
Kids teaching tricks on youtube is not a bad thing as it gets more people interested in magic and all the wonderful things it has to offer...
Hey domentalism,
Keep in mind that we've got the weigh the pros and cons whenever something like this is an issue:

I think the core tenets of the arguments against YouTube teaching are based around a few key points:
- Originality: if kids are teaching something that hardworking magicians are marketing as paid products, this is illicit, diverting revenue they would have gotten rightfully away from the creators.
- Skill Level: while tied into originality, I think this deserves its own category. The kids teaching these effects are not the creators. Thus, I believe we can say with a high degree of certainty that their teaching is severely lacking when compared to the original. I don't believe a subpar reveal helps the art in any form; new magicians who chance upon these would undoubtedly get the wrong idea.
- Exposure: magic has traditionally been a cloistered art, with secrets cherished and valued. The open realms of YouTube make it easy for anyone to access the aforementioned reveals, with minimal effort on their part. In doing so, not only do we risk spectators already in the know, but we also deprive those wanting to learn a legitimate and worthy source for magic instruction.

While true that YouTube may be a gateway to getting people "into magic", I don't believe it is worth the issues stated above. Additionally, the videos advocating proper learning mediums are far and few between. Should someone begin to learn from YouTube, it'll probably become a mainstay when they search for new material, further exacerbating the originality, skill, and exposure issues I detail above
 
Jul 13, 2014
176
27
Agreed. In my experience people who see something exposed on YouTube do not then go out and buy it. Unless it's a fancy gimmick they can't reproduce. Furthermore it is hugely disrespectful. But perhaps the worst part about it is that if you simply Google something like "magician put my card in the middle of the deck, and it came to the top" you get loads of tutorials. Anyone merely attempting to appease their curiosity can look up how most effects are done with a few quick searches. Also(and this is also irrelevant to piracy) most people on YouTube don't have the slightest clue what they're doing. However someone who is just getting into magic thinks they're a credible source(how could they know better?) and later does the same thing, but usually worse. As far as I'm concerned we could do without people who get into magic from youtube. Most of them are horrible and the world already has way more than enough bad magicians.
 
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I used to work for a place that taught magic in after school programs. I was the one teaching the teachers. I found out they were getting all their magic from Chinese knockoff manufacturers. I promptly resigned and told them to find a legitimate source. These weren't things like colorvisions and paddle tricks... there were some legit effects they were buying for pennies...
 
Jun 3, 2015
128
47
36
Lake District, UK
This is possibly off at a slight tangent, but how do creators feel about ebay or other methods of buying secondhand goods? Are they on a par with pirating? Obviously I'm not so much on about props but the dvds. After all, when you buy a dvd/download what you are paying for is to be let in on the secret, once you know the secret you have no real need for the dvd again...
 
Dec 1, 2012
697
198
TX
www.youtube.com
As artists who are concerned about theft, exposure and making sure the right magicians receive credit, we also have to do our part to make sure that we don't steal from other art forms. If we want the proper credit and respect - we have to give it to other artists in their fields as well.


For instance, photography. Photographers are artists who own the copywrite on their work - we should not be stealing their work for our websites, flyers or business cards. Make sure that all the art that you use in your profession is either public domain or you have the rights to use it.


Music. I know the generation raised with naptser felt it was alright to download music, but the bottom line is - if you have music on your devices that you didn't pay for - it's theft. Especially if you use music in your profession - and you have not paid for it - then what you are doing is - asking another artist to help your art form but not paying them. Make sure that all the music you use is either pubic domain or you have purchased the songs.


Software: Same thing applies. Yes, we can all download software illegally and we think "well everyone does it" but the bottom line is - if we are using the software in our business, and we have not paid for it - we are just as guilty as the magicians who steal from other magicians.


If we draw the line - we have to be willing to draw the line in all of our dealings. Ethics and morality don't just exist in "one part" of our lives - expose honesty into all the areas of your life and work.
 
Jan 17, 2015
132
8
There are often YouTubers who don't practice before they perform... Thus making videos more like an exposure than performance. Perhaps we should start making fake tutorials to motivate more to buy magic and make the real pirates less popular.
 

Maxcode

Elite Member
Jan 27, 2015
26
2
We should try to stop it but I don't think that people like jarek 120 will stop making tutorials and people who are desperate will download our magic videos there is no way to stop it I feel like
 
Aug 3, 2015
19
4
Today I was browsing "Magic Tricks" section here on Theory11 and I was looking specificly for color changes and found Gorilla Change by Dan Hauss + Dan White. When I watched the preview of the change I found it very similar to this tutorial by TheRussianGenius -
 
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