On Tuesday, December 13th, Apple launched iTunes Stores in Brazil and 15 other Latin American countries ranging from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela to be exact. The stores offers more than 20 million songs to customers in the given areas.
The new development in these regions is supposedly an effort to reduce the free roaming piracy culture according to Paulo Rosa, president of the Brazilian Association of Record Producers. The underlying statement is that any legal form of music acquisition will be better for the music industry than piracy. Alongside the expected production of iPods, iPads, and iPhones in Brazil by Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn should allow help alleviate the piracy issue there said one top Brazilian music industry official
Piracy in these regions are said to be among the worst in the world. Venezuela was ranked last out of 129 nations in terms of piracy of intellectual property according to the 2011 International Property Rights Index report. All the other nations where iTunes is launching in Latin America, except for Chile, were also ranked among the worst for piracy.
It’s said that consumers in Brazil without Internet connection can easily purchase the latest music or films from any major city corner for $2 or less. iTunes should direct users away from piracy by giving consumers an easier (and cheaper) way to access songs. Although this cannot be said for everybody as there will always be people out there getting their hands on whatever they can get for free.
Apple is also offering Brazil iTunes Match, the music matching and clouding service.
