HCM CITY — Pirated CDs have been an expanding business in Viet Nam for many years now, but they have run into a redoubtable opponent – the Internet.
The Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper reports that with downloads of music, films, serials or comedy shows freely available for free, both the original and pirated CDs are stuck in a deepening market gloom.
The strong development of internet in recent years has seen more and more people choose to surf the worldwide web for their entertainment needs – listening to music and/or watching films. They can also download the music and films they like to their mobile phones and computers.
A growing number of websites have been set up to meet the demand for "free art" among the public.
These websites upload quickly the latest music and film productions to share with the internet community.
The owner of a big disc shop on Tran Hung Dao Street in District 5, said: "The economic difficulties and new habit of downloading film and music free from the internet has made our business slow. However, we still have new products to sell wholesale and to our regular customers."
Other CD shops in several districts, including the Huynh Thuc Khang market, a well-known hub for the business – are also wearing a deserted look.
The merchandising of pirate discs could have cooled off because the city police have discovered many cases and seized a lot of the copies, but this by itself cannot explain the current market situation, the newspaper said.
Huynh Tiet, director of Ben Thanh Audio, said: "We have launched some records of singers Cam Ly, Quoc Dai, Xuan Phu and Nhat Kim Anh in recent years. But it is a way to keep the trade name going, no more no less."
It is a reality that no record company would dare spend money on producing because it would only hasten their "death", Tiet explained.
"Authorities should have more effective means of preventing piracy of CDs for us to continue producing records," Tiet said.
A CD-VCD-DVD product with around 10 tracks takes between VND110 million and 300 million to produce, which means that at current retail market prices of VND40,000 each, between 3,000 and 7,000 copies have to be sold just to break even.
Since the margin is so thin, piracy makes losses inevitable, he said.
A director of the Trung Duong Audio company who wanted to remain unnamed, said: "Most record companies seem to be paralysed now due to piracy and the internet. Also, the music market is approaching saturation point. Moreover, well-known singers are establishing their own labels.
When a record company wants to produce, they dare not invite these famous singers because they know very well they have to spend a lot but recoup their money in dribs and drabs."
In this tough situation, record companies are not only trying to bring out new CDs to maintain their trade name, but are also finding new ways to develop.
The Phuong Nam Film company, which has a nationwide distribution network, has stepped up business focusing on entertainment films for children.
A company representative, Minh Duc, said: "While music is losing its position, films are attracting the interest of people."
The two main production lines for Phuong Nam in recent times are imported and Vietnamese films, Duc said.
With imported films, the company plans to launch high quality DVDs very quickly, within a month after their release in the US, at reasonable prices, even cheaper than some original CDs of Vietnamese singers.
The company has launched in the market a collection of 50 Vietnamese films for around VND40,000-100,000 each that have attracted a huge number of customers.
However, just one firm, Phuong Nam Film, is not enough for the original CD market to flourish, the newspaper wrote.
It is the reluctance of producers to invest that is making the market gloomier every day.
With a more or less entrenched piracy industry, and the internet joining the fray, however, there is no easy way to remove this reluctance, the report said. — VNS