The BBC reports that last weeks phenomenon of the release of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith took a hit in the piracy market of Pakistan. The film was released three days later than expected. Vendors claim that it was due to the latest police crackdowns in piracy hubs of the country. Most new films that are released in Pakistan do so within 48 hours of the film’s international release. Most Indian films are released three days before the official release. The question remains, how do vendors keep their livelihood if there is no legal alternative for them to pursue?
The current vendors don’t.The current vendors don’t. What looks likely is that someone will get a license to ‘legally’ sell movies. While it’s not happening right now, it could happen that piracy havens will shift from the front row to the seedier gullies.
RE: The current vendors don’t….As happened with Pulse Global and Radio City. Movies were appropriately priced at the time because at 25 rupees, they offered more reliable quality than their pirated counterparts. Renting movies was commercial model of the time because replicating VHS was time consuming and costly. Archiving those collections took some up space and effort, hence the need for big rack space in stores. The 25 rupee rental fee was for all this–not for the intellectual capital as one would expect. This fit well with the Pakistani consumer mindset.
Times have changed since. Storage and media replication have both gotten a lot cheaper and faster. Everyone is a collector now. Most of the rental fee is a premium on intellectual capital. Would the Pakistani mindset rather rent or own for 25 rupees?
RE: The current vendors don’t.I’d say a significant population of the _world_ would own rather than rent at such low prices, given how accessible pirated material is here.