Tantrum Tuesday: iTunes Australia

So recently I committed to trying to buy as much media as I can (particularly things that I'm going to watch or read or listen to more than once) to try and cut down on the piracy levels in our household. For some strange reason recently I started singing the song 'Prince Ali' from Aladdin to the kid on a regular basis, so I thought hey I might go on iTunes and buy the Aladdin soundtrack so I can play him the proper song a few times because I can't actually remember all the words. Did they have it? Of course not. Then silly me thought oh it's clearly too old to be in iTunes but oh no there it is just sitting in the US iTunes store. That really burns me up - what is the problem? Why is it not in both?  It can't be a licensing thing as they have the movie in both.

One of the sucky things about living in Australia is media availability. I try and try and try to be good and purchase things or watch them on TV but they just make it so hard! I firmly believe that most people when given a choice between buying something and downloading it illegally will choose the easy option - which given the way Apple has set iTunes up for me is buying the thing. But what choice do I have when I can't buy it? I could buy a CD and rip it but thats also illegal under copyright laws so what am I to do?

Even Malcolm Turnbull is admitting we have a content availability issue in Australia and he's supposed to be a key figure in cracking down on piracy!

"a part of the solution is making content available in Australia at the same time, or very shortly after, it is released overseas and at a comparable price. "

taken from http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/copyright-the-internet-and-piracy 

so where does the buck stop? The solution to my problem ended up being finding someone who had put the song on Youtube - but that isn't always going to be the way. Something has to give and hopefully George Brandis won't be pigheaded enough to shove his changes through without considering the circumstances.  There will always be pirates but most people are interested in doing things the right way, if we are able to.