ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how piracy functions in offline contexts, specifically in the underdeveloped portions of the world, as an outcome of the legacy of neocolonialism and uneven global development. Pirated discs remain the chief vehicle for media consumption in the Global South, produced and sold by local cottage industries. This deformalization of media ecologies can become ground for local media production: for example, Nollywood cinema in Nigeria, and tecnobrega music in Brazil. In the context of global uneven development, exacerbated by international trade treaties such as The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), these forms of piracy present a challenge to the global hegemony of Western (specifically US) capital and media, but also the potential for capitalist recuperation.
