Asia ‘pirates’ out of necessity, not choice
Written by Smaran on November 06, 2006The content industries, specifically those in the US, accuse Asia of being the polestar of all piracy. Is this really the case? Or do otherwise law-abiding Asians have no other choice, no other legal alternatives?
Asia is associated with piracy. This association isn’t off the mark. People here use P2P networks to download copyrighted music (among other things), and having bootleg software on one’s computer is a completely normal thing. The idea of paying $100 for an original copy of Windows is considered wild. People are laughed at when they ask a computer salesman for original copies of Windows XP, Microsoft Office or Norton Antivirus. The general consensus is, when you can get it so easily for free, why bother? Well, many of us do bother.
Why is piracy widespread in Asia?
This question has two simple answers. Firstly, there aren’t viable legal competitors. Piracy can only be overcome if the customer feels he/she is getting something better by buying content, instead of downloading it for free. There are moral issues involved as well, and each person has a different breaking point. For some it might be being able to purchase songs from the iTunes Store, for others it might be getting a better deal, like an all-you-can-download monthly subscription service.
Secondly, Asia comprises mostly of ‘third world’ countries, most of whose citizens can’t afford the exuberant rates companies like Sony ($700 for a 512MB mp3 player) charge for their products. Multi-nationals are slowly understanding this and are starting to sell their products at a cheaper rate in Asia. The XBOX 360 is one of these. Also, many countries charge extraordinary import taxes on goods. This makes an imported good purchased in the grey market almost 1/3 the price of one bought legally. For example, iPods bought in the US and sold in India are considerably cheaper than those sold by authorised dealers here. Wired News published a mostly accurate piece on the booming grey market of iPods in India.
Pirates will be pirates
Pirates will be pirates. But people who want to purchase digital content legally will only be pirates if they have no other choice. Accusing an entire continent of being law-breakers is outrageous. Everyone’s favourite example these days is the iTunes Store. If Apple would expand into more countries, I am sure we would see a noticeable drop in the amount of music shared over P2P networks. Companies like Apple need to start trusting Asia. They can only gain from this. Piracy will continue with or without them. Their presence might actually reduce it. Apple Asia’s marketing director said that they “cannot comment on the specifics but it is true that iTunes is not available in Asia” and that the continent’s attitude towards copyrighted material is “relaxed.”
In April we reported on how a leading Indian newspaper, the Hindustan Times was openly promoting BitTorrent and the downloading of copyrighted files. Do they have another good legal alternative to recommend to their tech-savvy readers? No, they do not.
Asia now has the money. We’re just not being recognised as a potential market. Don’t turn away from us. We don’t want to be forced to pirate. “Do you want more frickin’ pirates?” asked Joey Alarilla, writing for CNET Asia. My answer is no, we do not.
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7 Responses
It is all about choice. No person is entitled to an iPod, or other Mp3 player, let alone a video game player, American pop music and film. No Asian society will crumble because the people cannot play Syphon Filter, listen to Brintey Spears, or watch Desperate Housewives.
Pitiful.
It’s not about being entitled to one. No one is demanding that companies sell their products in Asia. If they don’t, people will smuggle them in. That’s what’s happening right now. Because there aren’t any good music download services, people use the next best thing, P2P networks.
Great article by the way. The only reason why there is no legal music downloading in Asia is exactly that there is no way for them to download even if they want to. I think all this is because of there government being so restrictive. Even if the Itunes, Yahoo, Rhapsody stores tried to get into Asia they wouldn’t be able to becasue of there retarded government. It is always hard to beat the price of free.
What a crappy article, writer has no idea about the subject or the industry. Get a life….
A good article, there is no legal option here ! download is the only alternative. Also the cost needs to be considered if u gonna sell a windows copy for 150$ it wont be sold, bcoz here an average guy earns 200$/mo.
You know something , and very probably you’re very clever, but you don’t tell the truth, or you don’t know much about Asia. Frankly I dislike your tone.
So I have my questions, first, why those company don’t sell their products as good as in US and EU? This is just a matter of money, or rather GNP and exchange rate. Profit is the only one they care about.
Second, Asia is much better than the past, but they aren’t as rich as their counterpart, like US and EU, you don’t know what is Asia! But this companies just demand the same rate! Do you know if we want to buy a copy of Windows XP, he or she should sacrifice at least one month salary(middle class, if he or she is a peasant, that maybe cost his or her the whole year’s income or even more!),
I dislike anyone who want to manipulate people’s idea like you, truth and lie mixed, you’re so clever.
quite frankly i think that there is no end in site to piracy - i think that the only thing that would stop the average joe is a monthly subscription for a reasonable price for all content ever made on demand.
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