Is price-cut the panacea for music piracy?

bangalore: while napster-style music-sharing has now been shut down by law courts, there are a number of p2p file-sharing sites like music city that continue to offer numbers operating on the thin line demarcating the legal from the illegal. the problems for indian recording companies, however, stem more from piracy than from file-swapping software.the compression technology __ mp3 __ has taken the quickest and easiest way to distribute near-cd quality music on the web. it has been a boon to piracy, enabling people to download songs, duplicate them and distribute on the internet. the songs so downloaded are duplicated for distribution in grey market. these downloadables have cut into the sales of audio cassettes, affecting sales to the tune of 30 to 40 per cent, forcing the music companies to bend backwards to appease consumers. says m.v. sudarshan of sony india, ``the cds we offer are priced much higher compared to the grey market, giving you many more songs for a cheaper price.'' some of the big names __ venus, magna sound, bmg crescendo and wings __ have slashed prices by over 30 per cent, while the others __ times music, zee music, virgin, universal, hmv, tips and t-series __ are expected to follow in their footsteps in a couple of months. ``technology has posed the greatest threat to the music world, changing the face of music distribution. now the availability of cheap mp3s format sold for cheaper price has worsened the situation,'' says vijay sachdev of shivam distributors, justifying the price-cut. the results are showing. tapes of mohabbatein, kabhi khushi kabhie gham, gaddar, lagaan or britney, westlife or any of your favourite hits are selling like hot cakes again. says pradeep, branch manager, bmg crescendo india, ``owing to the same reason, we reduced prices a few months ago to make cassettes and cds affordable. people were not willing to spend too much on music albums. now, we are doing 6-7 times better.'' while the retail outlets like planet m have not reduced the price but are offering value-added schemes to lure customers, the music world, another big name, is offering up to 20 per cent discount on selected albums. sudarshan says as the smaller ones can't afford to give discounts because of low margins, they have either closed down or ``waiting for a miracle'' to happen. their move, however, is unlikely to have an impact on sales as most companies have slashed prices of cds, and not audio cassettes. hopefully, the indian music industry (imi) will take steps to stop piracy and ensure a turnaround for the ailing industry. the imi is a consulting body, whose members comprise most audio companies in the country. it also keeps tabs on piracy. now, go indulge yourself... christmas and the new year are just round the corner.