Music Piracy Still Thriving in Serbia

Music piracy in Serbia is more subtle today than it was during the turbulent 1990s. Nonetheless, it is still widespread, it was concluded during a debate at the Media Center in Belgrade, on June 28, 2010.

According to Petar Janjatovic, music journalist and Dallas Records Serbia managing director, the entire music sales network is collapsing, with the number of shops selling genuine CDs rapidly decreasing. Janjatovic stated that today it is considered a miracle if a music artist releases 1,000 copies of a new album, while not too long ago it was considered usual to release or sell 40,000 copies.

Janjatovic also stated that the main music consumers are teenagers and people in their early twenties, who do not have the habit of going to the CD shops to purchase new music. Therefore, they keep downloading music off the Internet, which causes profit losses for musicians and highlights Serbia’s failure to regulate the online sale of music.

Vladimir Maricic, jazz musician and the Serbian copyright protection organization (SOKOJ) representative, stated that, unlike Serbia, the developed countries have a developed music market due to a legal system that regulates different methods of music sale. He added that for people in Serbia, living in severe poverty, piracy has become acceptable, while the legal system is incapable of curbing the intellectual property theft.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Blic