The global dynamics of Indian media piracy: export markets, playback media and the informal economy

In recent years, Indian media producers have increased their efforts to combat the effects of piracy on their export earnings. They are facing a number of challenges, many of which can be traced to the particular nature of the Indian film industry itself and the idiosyncratic development of its political-economy over the past six decades. This article explores the dynamics of Indian media piracy and, in doing so, makes the case that Indian cinema could not have attained its considerable global standing without the distributive networks constructed around media piracy. This article also seeks to correlate the prevalence of media piracy with the murky world of Indian film finance. Finally, the article looks to the future in the guise of corporatization within the Indian film industry, the synchronization of intellectual property regimes and the pursuit of market control by means of the anti-piracy drive now being pursued in certain key export territories.