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CNN World Report

Music Piracy Explodes into Romania

Aired June 10, 2001 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN ANCHOR: CD piracy has exploded internationally in the past few years largely because of new recording technologies. It's a criminal business estimated to be worth almost $5 billion a year in the United States alone. Countries are trying to figure out strategies to prevent legitimate markets from being wiped out. Romania is one of them. Romania TV shows us how government officials are fighting back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, ROMANIAN TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): City hall representatives -- policemen, journalists, and of course curious people, all gathered in the west side of the Romania capital of Bucharest. They witnessed the end of thousands of pirate CDs and tapes; in an instant, a small device turned into dust all those cheap products, which invaded the Romanian market in the last ten years.

The next step was to lay it on the ground and cover it with the asphalt. This was the beginning of the consistent campaign against fake products. The counterfeit productions and trafficking of CDs, tapes, and videos is a new trend in which Romanian authorities have to deal with after the fall of communism in 1989.

Revolutionary and patriotic music were the only tunes accepted on the radio and television publicly during the dictatorship. Western music was banned because it was considered much too decadent for the communist society. After the 1989 revolution, things changed: CDs with foreign music invaded the Romanian market. 22 million compact disc units were sold in Romania in only last year -- 85 percent were counterfeit copies.

DORIAN CIUBUC, MUSIC PRODUCER: That affect legal market, the producers which are putting money into business, trying to develop new artists and good production and good quality, final product for the consumers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Producers and consumers are not the only losers in this business. Monica Anghel is one of the most famous Romanian pop stars; she is very concerned not only about the money she loses; she also is concerned about the damaged low-quality of unauthorized products, causes to her image.

MONICA ANGHEL, SINGER (through translator): Nowadays, as long as you can find all kinds of music in any place, I think it's an insult to all the people in show business and to all entertainers to buy stolen goods.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Romanian music producers decided to stage their own fight against the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). They set up an action group which cooperates with the police. As a first measure, they introduced a hologram stamp on their product. In the first 6 month of this year, a significant decrease of fake units has consequently been recorded.

In the meantime, Romanian authorities tighten the copyright law and tune it to EU provisions.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE), Romanian television for CNN WORLD REPORT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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