Malaysia Recording Industry Vows to Fight Piracy in Brunei
09 November 2012
Tan Ngiap Foo, chief executive officer of the Malaysian Recording Industry Association (RIM), told reporters in August that the industry “means business” when it comes to stamping out piracy in Brunei.
The US Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report placed the Sultanate on its priority watch list earlier this year, warning that copyright piracy was rampant in Brunei. Tan estimated that piracy in Brunei costs the music industry US$3.5 million annually.
“RIM has extended its wing to Brunei permanently by opening up an office here and (RIM) officers will be visiting all pirate outlets daily because our joint overall objective is to reduce the level of music piracy to less than 10% within three months,” Tan said at a press conference in Gadong.
Tan told reporters that in 1997, when music sales in Brunei reach US$3.5 million, RIM estimated that only 5% of the music in the market was pirated.
“Last year, we were shocked and saddened as the annual sales dropped to almost zero,” he said. “Our members informed us that there are no sales because people are buying pirated CDs. We estimated that piracy reached a staggering 99%.”
Tan said half of the pirated CDs are from nearby countries and half are manufactured in Brunei.
