There was a headline that grabbed my attention in The National this morning entitled "New copyright laws to curb film and music pirates." While piracy has been a major issue in this part of the world, it's also due to the fact that most content owners haven't given avenues to download or buy digital content legally.
It was thus refreshing to turn a few pages into the newspaper and see another headline "Middle East iTunes 'could protect industry'." The writer, Marie-Louise Olson hit the nail on the head about the region by saying "consumers have to buy CDs in shops or - as almost 95 per cent of the world's population do - download tracks illegally."
The issue in this region is not more stringent legislation. It's about giving a solution first. Without a solution, there's really no point for legislation. We can't be expected to buy CD's, DVD's or paper books only in the future. There will be a lot of content that will be bought digitally and even though it may seem like a lot of work, content owners have to a responsibility to give us a solution or else, they shouldn't be complaining about piracy. Consumers want digital content. Either you provide it or they will find it from wherever they get it.
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| Profits down the drain. Image: www.mediafuturist.com |
The issue in this region is not more stringent legislation. It's about giving a solution first. Without a solution, there's really no point for legislation. We can't be expected to buy CD's, DVD's or paper books only in the future. There will be a lot of content that will be bought digitally and even though it may seem like a lot of work, content owners have to a responsibility to give us a solution or else, they shouldn't be complaining about piracy. Consumers want digital content. Either you provide it or they will find it from wherever they get it.
