DVD piracy in China

Everybody knows that in China, just like many other Asian location, the sale of DVDs or CDs is rambant - in fact in such a scale that even the Chinese authorities conduct their own anti-piracy drives.

Any visit to hawkers or traders thus will reveal to anybody at a glance that the traditional business model is dead. Some musicians have found ways to connect to their audience via the web.

Warner now tries to cope with the problem in a new way. "Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment will release more than 125 movies on DVD in China at discounted prices in an effort to offset piracy losses."

Apparently, the price for a DVD is only slightly higher than the pirated version, but contains additional scenes and materials from the movies.

The big question is, however, if competition on price with some value added is sufficient to succeed. Granted, it is definitely better than suing your audience. But it is also interesting to see that they really forgo their margins in order to counter effects that trouble them so much. Shouldn't the music industry take the clue?

(By Asia Business Consulting)