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Published on December 24, 2007

But Minogue's fans' happiness is tainted by chagrin, as EMI Music (Thailand), which distributes her albums in Thailand, is going to close down. It says it has taken the decision to end physical distribution in Thailand during the first quarter of 2008 and focus solely on investment in the digital market.

The news is no better from the music shops themselves: CD Warehouse stores, which sell music, DVDs and entertainment-related stuff, are also closing down at the end of this month.

Have Thai fans lost their interest in music and entertainment? Not quite.

We recently checked the CD Warehouse store at The Emporium and found that roughly one week after CD Warehouse announced its clearance sale, music-lovers were scooping up CDs, most at a 50-per-cent discount. Shelves emptied within days. Who said Thais didn't like music?

In fact it doesn't take a genius to figure out why CD Warehouse and EMI have to shut down.

Varangkana Trivittayakhun, general manager of EMI Music (Thailand), blames rampant piracy and illegal copies. It's sad news for music fans to bid farewell to a company that has been around for more than 20 years.

Who will pay Bt400 for the genuine Minogue CD if they can get a copycat version for Bt100? We have to warn you, though, that the pirated version came with bad sound quality and a badly printed cover.

More labels may follow EMI soon if fans keep going for pirated copies. So let's act: if piracy is left to proliferate, we may not be able to see Minogue on her next album.

Jeerawat@nationgroup.com