Source: Correio Braziliense, 13/07/2008

Piracy dominates almost half of the music market
Brazilian and, in the capital of the country, made another victim. By the end of this month,
Discoteca 2001, which was once the largest in the business, will close its last two stores
in the city. In 37 years of life, the company had 13 points of sale in the
Federal District and 120 employees. Unfair competition with the labor market
counterfeiting, however, did not allow it to continue selling CDs and DVDs
for brasilienses. The way was to put everything on sale, prepare the bags and
close the doors.

In addition to 2001, countless companies succumb to piracy in Brazil. By
estimates of the Associação Antipirataria Cinema e Música (APCM), the copy
irregular distribution of CDs and DVDs caused the closing of 3,5 points of sale in the country
and accounts for a 50% drop in turnover in the music market. "Today,
50% fewer artists are launched than five years ago ”, highlights Antônio Borges,
executive director of APCM. The loss of national culture is the most serious, he points out.
The damage is not accurately measured, only estimated. It is estimated that a thousand people
lose their jobs in DF each year because of counterfeiting of records and
videos.

For 97% of consumers adept at piracy, the best justification is the
low price. In stores, obviously, these products are more expensive. Each CD
purchased brings the rent of the point of sale, the
employees, fixed store costs (water, electricity and telephone bills) and
taxes that, in this case, reach 47,25% of the final price.

By purchasing a pirated product, on the contrary, none of these costs are
included. However, the indirect price of illegal copying, the combatants defend
counterfeiting, it can be much higher. “Piracy swallows jobs that
contribute to the country's growth and still keep away good companies and good
investors at the expense of tax evaders ”, argues André Franco Montoro
Filho, executive president of the Brazilian Institute of Competition Ethics
(Etc.).

Internet
A survey by the Datafolha Institute on
request of the Brazilian Video Union (UBV) at the end of last year showed that the
piracy in Brazil is already taking other paths. In addition to commercialization in
street vendors, she conquers the internet at a strong pace. The proportion of Internet users
who take advantage of the worldwide network to download movies and music is still small,
3%, but tends to grow as broadband reaches more homes. These
practices are typical of the younger, single and higher-level public. Of this
group, 28% are students. In this list, Brasília has the largest amount of
users who download movies, 12%.

“Internet piracy is our main concern”, reveals Borges. For
To prevent the advance of this crime, APCM removes links from the air. In the first semester
this year, 161,2 links were taken from the internet on charges of presenting
pirated content of music and movies or lead to pages with this type of
material. In the same period last year, that number had been 15,6. THE
growth of repression exceeds 900%, but there is still an immense path to be
traveled by Brazil. The capital of the Republic that says so. The city appears in
leadership of the ranking of capitals that most buy illegal DVDs in the country. Of the 17%
respondents who assumed to buy pirated videos, 24,59% are from Brasilia.

Trade outside the rules
Piracy harms the
creation of jobs, the collection of taxes and already dominates almost half
the phonographic market in the country.

Piracy
Dominates 48% of the market
phonographic;
Account for a 50% drop in market turnover
phonographic;
It took 3,5 thousand legalized points of sale to close in the
parents;
It stops Brazil from collecting R $ 500 million;
Provoked the
disappearance of at least 80 formal jobs;
Decreased by 50%
number of national product launches and the hiring of artists
locations.

Seals*

2007
Brazil:
13.826.050 units
Midwest: 732.016 units

2008
Brazil: 21.876.723 units
Midwest:
532.176
Links taken from the internet *
161,2 thousand in 2008
15,6 thousand in
2007

* Data for the first semester of each year