Film, television, music, and books are the backbone of our culture, but you wouldn’t know it based on the dollar value we assign to creativity.

A guest post written by Tim League, founder and CEO of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas, and Ruth Vitale, executive director of CreativeFuture, was published Friday on Indiewire.com, addressing how piracy hurts creators and creative businesses large and small, majors and independents.  The post also addresses the broader implications of how society values creative works. The authors present some of the ways the creative community can work together to take on these important issues that are so important to the health of our creative economy.

“Everyone who works in film and television understands—and will tell you—that over the years, getting projects made has become increasingly more difficult…

Many factors drive these trends, but it’s undeniable that piracy is a big part of it. The same technological revolution that has made it possible to self-distribute has made it just as easy for someone to take your work and share it for free with millions of strangers…

As fans of art, in whatever form, we should recognize the role each of us play in assigning value to creative works. If we collectively decide that all creative content should be free, sadly, we may end up getting what we pay for.”

Read the complete post here.