A pirated CD costs 8 rubles to make, bribes included

St. Petersburg recently hosted a conference entitled "Copyright Protection in the Sphere of Intellectual Property", the National News Agency reports. At the conference, the popular signer and actor Mikhail Boyarskiy complained that each series of knockoff CDs deprives him of some $70,000, while Municipal Culture Committee chairman Nikolai Burov pointed out that in the 21st century artists and performers are the least protected owing to the rapid progress of technologies. Figures cited at the conference further illustrated the situation: St. Petersburg alone is home to some 20 underground shops producing pirated CDs, each of them releasing a staggering 460,000 CDs monthly. The production cost of one pirated CD, including all kickbacks, is around 8 rubles (30 cents). Such disks sell for 100 rubles ($4) apiece on average.