Pirated “Room Service” CDs flood Russian market
Written by Junkie on April 13, 2001 to Misc.
ST. PETERSBURG - In Russia, a lot of pirated “Room Service” albums have been made. In this city, for example, it is almost impossible to find a real album with the booklet and photos inside. One reason for this is that a pirated CD costs only $3 while the real licensed one costs more than $20. Many, if not most shops here sell the cheap pirate CDs. Indeed, one could say that the Russian Mafia owns the Russian music industry.
As much as 95 percent of all music sold in Russia is illegal, said Eric Schwartz of the International Intellectual Property Alliance, which represents copyright holders. “There’s a whole lot of money to be made on them, and nobody’s giving them any good reason to stop,” Schwartz said. He said the main reason pirates do so well is because of Russia’s lax law-enforcement procedures.
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24 comments
csarmi said on April 14, 2001 00:47:
these ****’s like Mr Swarch just make me mad
come here to Hungary, or even go to Russia, work for 100 dollars a month, do it for their all life and THEN, and only then, they can say everything they want
this stupidity of “lack of law enforcement”
law enforcement???
lack of mind at those people who want to sell CD’s at insane prices
well
I finish it before I would say things that do not fit in here.
csarmi said on April 14, 2001 00:53:
and guess why I have all albums on tape?
because CD i much more expensive
and I cannot afford it
yes, from the price of one legal Roomservice tape, I would be able to make my friend to write ALL roxette CD’s which were released, in no time
but Roxette music worth me that price - I collect them
csarmi said on April 14, 2001 00:53:
and guess why I have all albums on tape?
because CD i much more expensive
and I cannot afford it
yes, from the price of one legal Roomservice tape, I would be able to make my friend to write ALL roxette CD’s which were released, in no time
but Roxette music worth me that price - I collect them
Junkie said on April 14, 2001 08:39:
But inspite of all Roxette are still popular in Russia and I know a lot of my friends (and both me of course) are still looking for the opportunity to get a real CD! In a few weeks Roxette are supposed to join the Radio Maximum (http://www.maximum.ru) - Saint-Petersburg 102.8 FM Top20!
ixtlaner said on April 15, 2001 13:39:
Ha ha ha, it’s the same here in Bulgaria - a week after the *official* MC was released there were already pirated CDs, a bit cheaper than the MC. Well, they don’t sell them in the shops but still it’s pretty easy to get them, besides you can’t buy an *official CD* cos there aren’t any (yet)...
Hey, thanx for the link with the interview!
seven20seven said on April 16, 2001 08:30:
I live in Novosibirsk (Siberia, Russia) On this weekend I tried to bye a legal copy in the city this weekend. I walked throw all popular CD shops, and didn’t find any. They don’t have more then one/two copies of such not illegal CDs, because it’s not popular to bye them. And RS was just sold out. ...Hopefuly I’ll get it on next weekend...
P.S. I study in state university and get about 8$ a month. Such kind of CD costs about 20$.
denny said on April 19, 2001 06:51:
I live in Yugoslavia and there are NO original CDs (of any group) in our shops - just pirates! I would give all the money I have for a nice , original Cd with booklet ! And I can’t even join the fanclub and order it, ’cause our banks don’t “do business” with the Netherlands banks...
So, lucky you guys, wherever you are!
Oh, and , there’s a song missing in our pirated Room Service - I hope I’ll hear it someday...
ixtlaner said on April 20, 2001 23:18:
2 Rox-friends & I went to the EMI Licensee in Bulgaria and asked them if they had any plans on releasning Room Service on *official* CD - the answer was they didn’t have the permission from EMI to do it!! And if any Roxer from Bulgaria wants to have *official* CD the only chance they have is to order it from the EMI catalogue in the office of the Licensee for 14.40$! And actually most ppl don’t even know that’s possible... I guess it’s really time for record company change. *Sigh* Meanwhile the pirated RS copies keep on selling like hot cakes... EMI just couldn’t care less for us fans. They don’t even care enough about Roxette - look what’s happening in the UK. And the Russian Mafia has nothing to with it.........
Can someone from Russia please describe the pirated CD? I wanna see if it’s the same here.
Junkie said on September 30, 2001 02:16:
I’d read the article again, and who had written about Russian Mafia there? There’s no russian mafia! It was just a joke. and the CDs are made by just those, who can’t earn money with the other way. :(((((
csarmi said on April 14, 2001 00:41:
no wonder 95% of the russian music is pirated
me, I live in Hungary, I think we earn more than russians, but if I would have to buy the Roomservice CD at 20 dollar, well, I am sure I went to the Napster, downloaded it and wrote it to a CD for 0.5 dollar
not because I do not like Roxette
not because I do not feel I owe them for the music they make
but think about it: a CD at that price would cost me about 20 hours of hard work
does it worth it?
no, no CD worth that much
anyways, fortunately I was able to buy it on tape, which was much cheaper (less then 8 dollars)
I have all roxette albums on tape