You are on page 1of 6

Popular Music and Society, Vol. 27, No.

1, 2004


Who are the Pirates? The Politics of

Piracy, Poverty, and Greed in a
Globalized Music Market
Jack Bishop

In the wake of the aggressive campaign against Napster, in the name of intellectual property rights, the record industrymore precisely the Big 5 labels (BMG,
the Phonograph Industry), National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
(NARAS), Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (LARAS), and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)is on the attack worldwide against
than 1.8 billion units!
companies have violated fair trade practices by intimidating store owners into not
the 50 United States against the Big 5 (Musicland). These practices have added
more than $500 million to CD prices since 1997!
tactic used by the industry to control airplaypayolayet another example of the
record companies unfair and unethical trade practices was revealed to the public.
ISSN 0300-7766 print/ISSN 1740-1712 online/04/010101-06 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/0300776042000166639



social realities. With the United States holding the lions share of the world music
and standards that in many countries are economically unrealistic. The unilateral
industry has always held control of production and distribution. The worlds
equipment in personal computers and standalone duplicators were in every stereo
its stranglehold on consumer music habits being threatened.
NARAS, LARAS, and the RIAA have all banded together to stamp out music
labels and their traditional distribution conglomerates. They are currently seeking
the administration to apply political and perhaps economic pressure if necessary
on nations where piracy is rampant. From an ethnomusicological perspective,
this intercultural dynamic raises some very interesting issues of power structures,
currently underway, this study presents a brief examination of this dynamic
definitive answer to the question: Who are the pirates?
Whats wrong with this picture?
benevolent companies falling victim to a technologically changing world. They
these fees. The industry argues for the protection of their artists intellectual property rights, rights that they control, and in most cases have been wrested away

Popular Music and Society, Vol. 27, No. 1


change. But it doesnt stop there.
In his open letter to the public, entitled Building Bridges with Music, in the
victimized by criminals. Greene bases his figures on the imaginary figures provided annually by the IFPI He continues by claiming the entire music food chain
is starved as the foreign bandits reap the benefits of piracy (24). How ridiculous
organization? It is overt mistruths, like this and like Copelands, that have earned
solutions to piracy that must be tailored to the very specific, yet fluid political and
economic environments existing in each country (24). By this, he is not referring
Presidential Decree instituting an Interministerial Anti-Piracy Committee, under
the Ministry of Justice, aimed at coordinating the countrys different enforcement
agencies (IFPI 2001). In his infinite naivet, Greene goes on to dismiss the existence
of a strong middle class in Latin America (an embarrassment in itself for the thenPresident of LARAS) and cites the disparity of income between the classes as the
letter with a call to every citizen in even the smallest communities to join in the
lifestyle. That is what is truly at stake.
Greene cites disparity of wealth and inconsistent enforcement of copyright laws
admit that record executives and publishers are highly overpaid members of an
exploitative industry that has historically appropriated the intellectual properties
entirely unrealistic given local economies throughout Latin America. Never does
case study let us consider Brazil.



Piracy myths and truths

The latest releases of Britney Spears, Madonna, U2 or the Back Street Boys can
cost up to R$36.25 (Reais) (US$14.50) in record shops here [Brazil], but that
doesnt stop anyone from hearing them. Street vendors, operating from simple
metal stands, offer the same titles for R$6.80 ($2.75). (Rother 3)


the monthly minimum wage is R$140200 (US$70100), paying R$36 for a CD is
absolutely out of the question. It is the avarice, the unyielding rapaciousness of
record company executive. When you have a predatory price policy incompatible
piracy. In regard to the high prices, Antnio Carlos Manfredini, an economist at
the Getlio Vargas Foundation, said:
The higher price for recordings here [Brazil] is maintained not so much with
Brazil itself in mind, but to avoid sales to the United States and Western Europe,
its simply not worth it to them to threaten their markets in the North by means
of aggressive pricing in Brazil. (Rother 3)

This statement reveals Brazils reality of trying to deal with the globalized price
calculates that the average producers cost of a CD in Brazil, which includes
commonly accepted by Brazilian economists and industry forecasters, that profits
profit-per-unit for volume sales. In rebuttal to Greenes accusation that local
officials are not doing enough, Manfredini states:
In a low-income country, the regulatory authorities have difficulty protecting
the rights of both producers and consumers, and so there is not an institutional
structure to control price fixing and other abuses perpetrated by the same
companies that complain that their rights are not being protected when piracy
results. (Rother 3)

obvious truth that seems difficult for the industry to grasp is that in low-income

Popular Music and Society, Vol. 27, No. 1


Mexican pirates
that, owing to poor coordination between the key enforcement agencies, a lack of
commitment to intellectual property offenses by the judiciary and a lack of deterrent sentencing in the courts, (IFPI 2001 7) piracy continues to grow. Comparing
United States and to Brazils depressing 44 percent. Units sold in Mexico during
reaped $1,294,400,000 last year from these two Latin American countries that
surprisingly still occupy the third and fourth places on the IFPIs hit list against
Mexicos so-called lack of commitment seems to evidence an unwillingness to be
coerced by multinational corporations into enforcing policies that are designed as
price is the same attack on Mexican culture and national identity.
Final thoughts
reason why so many are used to duplicate music. Apparently the worlds music



offers a previously unavailable choice, a response to the economic oppression perpetrated against consumers by the worlds wealthy. To the low income societies
who the pirates actually are.
Works cited
Greene, Michael. Building Bridges with Music. Grammy Latino 1 (1997): 2225.
Musicland Named in Label Suit. Available online:
NARAS., 20002001. Accessed 20 May 2001.
Rother, Larry. In the Land of Sun and Music Pirates Play Robin Hood. New York Times
20 May 2001: 4, 3.


dissertation on piracy in the music industry.