Likely its some hack eyed windowing strategy that someone thought of. Just like with the last REM record (which was the last I worked on), they did 3 different singles in different territories.
It could be because:
- Retail exclusive partnership
- Something to do with local radio promotion
- Tour scheduling
Any number of things. Somewhere, in someones brain, this idea made sense because it made someone more money in the long run, even if it hurts fans, etc in the short.
Trust me, any time I heard the term "geoblocked" with a video exclusive I wanted to scream. Still do!
Same principle: The original Tron being essentially impossible to find (I think I saw a DVD for like $300 on ebay) on any service... until... The Tron: Legacy blu-rays came out. Then suddenly, the original Tron is easy to find. And the crappy 480p torrent that I may or may not have downloaded now may or may not have been replaced with a (purchased!) 1080p rip.
My guess is that the sellers think that, by waiting in market X, they drum up "anticipation", driving sales when it finally is released. One way to do this is by costly advertising, another way is to release it to a few people and let them advertise for you - similar to releasing previews of movies, etc to reviewers. They're using the US as an ad agency to boost demand elsewhere.
Personally, I think this is complete insanity, and yes, drives piracy. But that's the best I can come up with, and it jives with the media industry's other crazy-ass antics.
But how? I simply don't see how NOT MAKING THE PRODUCT AVAILABLE TO BE BOUGHT can possibly help to line anyone's pockets.
I know I must be missing something here. But what?