Ringtones may be music to Chinese ears

This is the latest version of this eprint.

Abstract

Rates of music piracy are notoriously high throughout China's audio-visual industries, with industry executives generally quoting piracy rates of between 75% and 95%. Disc piracy is common, particularly in wealthier cities along China's eastern seaboard. People living in less affluent or developed areas still use pirated audio cassettes, which are cheaper to copy than digital media. Cassette players, which are capable of both playing and copying music, are much more affordable to people living in poor areas of China than computers. They are also easier for less educated sectors of the population to use: they do not require computer literacy or the ability to romanize Chinese characters (pinyin). Expensive hardware investments are also unnecessary, allowing anyone with a tape recorder and a blank cassette to copy and share music using this format, regardless of their access to the Internet.