Bootlegged Music in Russia

Guppy06 writes "MosNews.com has an interesting article on the thoughts and opinions of everyday Muscovites on the rampant music (et al) piracy in their country. It seems that some of them don't have much trouble justifying it to themselves, with quotes like 'Yes, I know that some of the sellers are here with burned CDs. But they have to earn a living too, I can understand them.' The article also mentions 'In a country where the average monthly salary is about $240, buying the latest album for $15 is a grotesque luxury, let alone spending $600 on Adobe Photoshop or a similar computer program.' Apparently, catchy slogans like 'Listen up, you pirate, I choose copyright!' just aren't working."

Comments

Re:15 bucks

[Raztus]

Something like this already exists...www.allofmp3.com. Sure, the target audience may be more foreigners than Russians, but the prices at which they sell music equal out to about the same as iTunes, on a Russian salary.

Well, the article doesn't say...

[teamhasnoi]

but a quick Google for average Russian wage provided : The average monthly wage in 2003 was 5,512 roubles (which amounts to 160 euros at the current exchange rate and about 450 euros when adjusted for purchasing power).

Converted into US bucks - that's roughly 570 dollars a month.

You can't tell me that any attempt by copyright holders is going to 'Stamp out Piracy' with 15 dollar CDs - unless they match the 3.50 'Nice Price'.

Isn't there one person out of all the copyright holders who can wrap their head around that?

I rate this article 4 1/2 'duhs', and rate the clueless morans printing up 'For great justice, make your time Pirate!' posters a +5 Ner.

Not just Russia

[dedrop]

I'm originally from Brazil, and go back every once in a while to visit family. The minimum salary there is on the order of $100/month, and piracy is also an everyday fact of life. My cousin tells me that when you buy a PS2 there, it comes pre-modded and with software to play DVDs from any region as part of the bundle; you actually can't buy a PS2 without it. Of course, the reason for this is because Sony never officially released the PS2 in Brazil (according to my cousin, this is because they knew that piracy was so prevalent as to make legitimate sales there unprofitable). For comparison, whereas a pirated game is roughly $10, an unpirated one is nearly $100.

Been there

[ComputerSherpa]

Having lived in Russia for nine years, I can say that you can't buy licensed music or movies there. It is simply not available. You go anywhere, to any store, and movies, games, and music CDs sell for about 100 rubles (~$3.30) each. It's really not an issue of whether it's justified or not-- it's an issue of whether you want the music/media or not. You simply can't buy CDs that are legal by American standards there.

And regarding the possiblity of iTunes and company, Russia hasn't invented broadband yet. They're still using pulse-dialing for their phone lines, for crying out lound. (If you don't know what pulse-dialing is, go ask your dad. Or your grandpa.)

Re:15 bucks

[BlueStrat]

I've posted this URL several times in various threads where music industry-artist relations come up. I'm a semi-pro (not sure what may formally qualify one to be called "pro"..I've made a living at it for significant periods, but not exclusively, so I include the "semi" tag) musician myself, and can attest to some of the facts in this excellent piece. Worth a read.

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

Strat