Pirated DVDs

I've been walking through the night markets of Penang the last couple of nights. The most common items for sale are knock off leather goods, a few local handicrafts and pirated DVDs. Lots and lots of DVDs. They seem to be the most popular stalls. Whenever there is a crowd standing around a stall, it's usually a DVD stall. But why?

As far back as I can remember, it's always been a requirement of people when they travel to Asia that they bring back loads of pirated media. I remember in High School, there was a cool kid who had all the latest Commodore 64 games. His Dad worked in Indonesia, so whenever he'd visit, he'd come back with 50 or so new disks. Most of them would have some bug or other in them, but he always ended up with a lot of games, all at a fraction of their proper retail price.

Since then, the media has progressed. My first trip to Singapore brought back a stash of VCD movies - a movie on a CD, how revolutionary! Now it's truly the age of the DVD. They're small, light weight and make a good talking point when you get home. "Yeah, I got that movie in Bali". The kids seem to love it.

When I was in Bali the other week, there were huge shops devoted just to pirate DVDs. They were blatant about it. There was none of the under the counter type sales. They were all loud and proud - pirate DVDs everywhere. The shop assistants also seemed quite knowledgeable about the movies. They knew all the new movies and were giving recommendations. Penang is similar, but not to the same level. As a test, I asked if they had the new Danny Boyle movie "Sunshine", which has just opened in cinemas. They first asked if I meant "Little Miss Sunshine". When I said no, the manager was asked over and he told me that it "wasn't out yet." Good customer service!

Recently, due to pressure from the US, Malaysia has started to crack down on pirate DVD sales. The same thing happened in Singapore a few years back. There always seemed to be a dodgy DVD shop in Lucky Plaza in Singapore or Bugis Junction, but not more. Indeed, Malaysia has gone to the extent of training 2 dogs to sniff out fake DVDs. The DVD pirates responded by placing a bounty on the two fluffy puppies' lives! Apparently, the way to get your pirate DVDs in Singapore these days is to place an order with someone going to Johor Bahru (JB), who then brings them back for you! Some of the pirates will even deliver to you in Singapore. Good customer service!

But why are they so popular? Well, that's easy - they're cheap. A DVD in the UK will cost about £15, but you can get them in Penang for RM4, which is about £0.60. Plus, if you buy 10, you get one free. Such a bargain. It's usual to see young guys walking down the street with lots of black plastic bags, holding something rectangular! Some of them go nuts. One or two is not enough, they seem to be buying 20 or 50 at a time. In Bali, I regular heard guys walk into shops and ask how much for 100 disks!

The range of disks is pretty good too. They have all the latest movies, plus some really odd old movies. The ones I saw for sale this week were very professional looking. They has proper DVD sleeves, proper labels printed on the DVDs themselves all enclosed in a convenient protective sleeve.

This is perhaps a worrying sign. There's obviously a large criminal cartel behind the operation. Along Penang, there was about 50 shops selling DVDs, but they were all the same. Same pictures on the movies, same cases. The price was also the same. They're obviously all run by one crime syndicate. The people running the shops seemed pretty desperate. They had a wary look in their eyes, as if the police would suddenly run along and close them down. If you ask me, the whole fake DVD scene is not good and is to be avoided. While paying bugger all for a DVD might save you some money, it's just feeding organised crime in these countries.

Ironically, the internet might kill off these pirates. Reports are coming in that pirates in developed countries are seeing their business die as broadband speeds increase. To some people, even £0.60 is a lot to pay for a movie. If you download it from a pirate site, it's free! You can also do it from home, without the need of going to the other side of the world. You can then burn it to a £0.10 blank DVD. For the more technologically advanced, there's no need to do that - just watch it on your tele via your PC, then delete.

I think in 5 years time, these sort of pirate DVD shops in tourist areas are going to disappear. You can see this already in pirated CDs. Music is so cheap and easy to download for free that if you're inclined to steal music, buying it on a disk by the side of the road just seems old fashioned!

Where does this leave the media companies? I suspect it doesn't impact their total sales much. Guys who go to Bali and buy 100 pirate DVDs aren't the guys who would normally buy 100 DVDs at home, so they're not really stealing any of their market.

The great shame in this whole market is the impact on the locals. People should be going to these markets to buy weird and unusual local handicrafts. Something that reminds them of their trip. Instead, they're buying pirate DVDs and fake luxury goods. Not good for the long term local economy!