With the pressures of ACTA (the global Anti-Piracy initiative) in place,
a Draconian Anti-Piracy Law goes into effect and Music Sales subsequently
plummet (more
details at TechDirt).
According
to Japan Today, downloading copyrighted music and video can be punishable by up
to Two years in jail and a 2 million yen fine ($24,284 USD). Two years of
trying your best not to drop the soap while losing the money for a new car...
for downloading a stupid song. Scary? That's the point.
Unfortunately
the music industry in Japan needs someone to blame for the decline in sales.
No, they don't blame the crappy artists, high-priced CD's in a struggling
economy, or their lack of initiative to increase revenue in other ways beside
direct royalty from music purchases. They conveniently point their fingers at
the evil RPG wielding internet pirates, who need to be observed every second
because they are so "dangerous"...
Music Industry's Perception of Internet Pirates
The
backfiring is obvious, this law has discouraged the already decline in interest
in today's music. Many Japanese people state that when they do purchase music,
it's from a foreign store because music at domestic stores are too expensive.
With
that said, seeing that now the download button isn't available, and the music
doesn't seem worth buying, people just don't bother anymore. Yet, the industry
and lobbyists still fail to recognize this.
Internet Pirate in Real Life
