Oline Piracy of Audiovisuals in Italy. Between Illegal and Useful Distribution

The paper's aim is to face the online and illegal distribution of audiovisuals in Italy from a media and sociological point of view. The study of online piracy inevitably requires an ethnographical approach that allows to examine the users' distribution preferences: indeed, this controversial mean leads users to be involved both in distribution and fruition, creating virtual infrastructures for these goals. In this work we propose a way to reach a better comprehension of Italian cinema and television tendencies, taking some factors that have never been used into account. Through several methods of analysis it is possible to find out specific tendencies regarding Italian online distribution, changings in Italian cinema and television genres, characterization of the product as commercial, artistic or experimental, and new tendencies of the Italian consumer's behaviour. The paper focuses on the studies of some online distribution platforms (the italian Cineblog01, the international Cinema of the World and OlyOldMovies) and on a survey made at the University of Bologna compared to The Research Bay, an extensive study about The Pirate Bay made by the swedish research group Cybernorms. Examining the results and comparing them to other studies, the paper shows some interesting conclusions not focusing on “why” these ways of distribution are used instead of traditional and official ones, nor on “who” is the real responsible of illegal activities, but considering piracy as a mean of distribution and focusing on “what” and “how” the audiovisual product is spread by means of these ways.