How do companies know if I use cracked software or assets for my personal gig?

shadowagent@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ@lemmy.dbzer0.com – 117 points –

For context, I want to run a small personal gig (offering stuff on Patreon). Nothing too fancy.

In order to do that, I would need to use the Adobe suite, Windows, some audio and video effects, all requiring a commercial license.

In theory, I start to make money. How would Microsoft and Adobe know that I don't pay for their software?

If I use some audio effects, how would their owners even be able to tell / find my work? We're talking about basic sound effect, like rain, door knocks etc.

I've always been confused by this

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Adobe and Microsoft only kinda care about you. You’re one person. All the freelancers out there are still a fairly small part of their respective balance sheets. If you’re a freelance worker, some of your customers might require you to show valid licenses for the software you use, because they want to make sure their partners are ethical (at least, in this regard). Alternatively, you could use FOSS apps.

As someone else already said, if you are making money using commercial software, you really should be paying for it. The cost of your software should be factored into what you charge your customers. They should understand that.

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