Asia's digital divide poses challenge for music industry

Entertainment Jun. 26, 2012 - 06:08AM JST ( 4 )

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basroilJun. 26, 2012 - 09:26AM JST

Can we please get an UNBIASED report? This is an RIAJ/RIAA pamphlet, not an article.

But it noted that growth in the region will be compromised by the amount of free music already available online.

But it is noted in various scientific and economic reports that the amount of free music is DIRECTLY, not inversely, proportional to sales. Note that free does not have to mean illegal, as there are plenty of free radio stations on the internet that allow you to listen to songs. It has also been noted that people have a set amount they can spend on entertainment, so if they can't download it legally within their budget, they will either download illegally, or worse, not download it at all. Research time and time again shows that AFTER a song becomes popular in downloading channels it also becomes popular in the legal channels. To quote Microsoft: "If they are going to use software illegally, they might as well use ours".

Lets also not forget Radiohead and their pay what you want campaign. They sold plenty of albums for $0, but they ended up with an average of $26 per "disk", or twice the normal selling price and twenty or fifty times the money they would normally get from album sales though recording companies. If Japanese bands did the same, we might see better artists with real talent and properly compensated instead of herded like cattle by their agencies.
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REMzzzJun. 26, 2012 - 10:22AM JST

before piracy is really addressed to the point where it is stopped and consumers are forced to buy legitimate content on the web

The keyword here is forced. Nooo Thank You.

It has already been “localised” in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and India.

Where "localized" means content is now blocked, based on incoming IP addresses.

To quote Microsoft: "If they are going to use software illegally, they might as well use ours".

Great quote and very relevant. Sometimes mousy and old-fashioned looking people can actually be pretty forward-thinking :)
0

basroilJun. 26, 2012 - 02:24PM JST

REMzzzJun. 26, 2012 - 10:22AM JST

Great quote and very relevant. Sometimes mousy and old-fashioned looking people can actually be pretty forward-thinking :)

"Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though

And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade." --Bill Gates at University of Washington speech.

Took me a while to find the exact quote. Say what you want about him, but if the on-off richest man in the world says this, then I think the Japanese record and movie companies should listen up. He alone was worth more than all of RIAJ combined after all.
2

ScroteJun. 26, 2012 - 07:42PM JST

Some years ago I found a Chinese site offering music downloads for 1 Yuan per track, yet the Japanese version of iTunes wanted Y250 for the same track, about 20 times more. I want the ability to buy tracks from any country I choose without restrictions. If these music companies think they can rip me off and charge 20 times the price just because I like in Japan they are sadly mistaken: they will end up with nothing at all.