P2P File Sharing Ruining Physical Piracy Business

TorrentFreak has a short post up talking with a former physical data pirate, who sold his wares in flea markets and made buckets of money in the 90s. By the end of the last decade, his money flow had dried up, and he places the blame squarely on the shoulders of P2P file sharing. "Tony is very clear about why his rags to riches story has gone back to rags again. 'File-sharing, P2P - call it what you like. When you asked a customer why he wasn't buying anything, 9 times out of 10 it was BitTorrent this, LimeWire that ...' P2P is a very powerful machine and although Tony could see that his operation was feeling its effects, he admits that he sat back and did nothing about it and consequently, his business has paid the ultimate price. Other industries affected by P2P should take note: Don't be a Tony. Overhaul your business model. Quickly." One would imagine overseas media sellers will have similar issues, as P2P networks become more common outside of the Western world.

Re:Nonsense.

[franksands]

I have. I live in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We have dozens of "physical pirates", and I think they are doing pretty well, considering they are open for years. And I'm not talking about Mr. Tony with the CDs on the side walk, I'm talking about whole BUILDINGS with pirate stores, that sells movies and games as they are launched in the US, and sometimes sooner. Ask anyone who lives in Sao Paulo and they will tell you the same thing.

Re:Nonsense.

[xtracto]

I agree, the speculation about the end of time for the "physical pirates" is pure bullshit. I am from Mexico, and, the prime example is the Tepito Market [wikipedia.org] where people sell copies of movies and DVDs before they are available even at the cinema. They even sold the Xbox360 *before* it was out in Mexico (and the release time was the same in Mexico and the USA, usually what they do is assault trailers with merchandise).

If anyone wants to practice their spanish, here [geocities.com] is a really good description of what the Tepito market is famous for in Mexico. Gosh, one of the main reasons why no one makes anything against it is that usually the heads of those markets (and the people moving the money) are the same of the people from the government!

So yeah, there is still *plenty* of demand for pirate DVDs and CDs (and even VHS!!) in the street.