“There is no property more peculiarly a man’s own than that which is produced by the labor of his mind”, so goes the saying by Zimbabwe Music Rights Association in a bid to protect music from piracy.
In the past decade ,the music industry has been dogged by piracy ,a major setback that has witnessed many artistes quitting music and focusing on to other things. Many organizations in the past have engaged in campaigns but piracy still remains an issue that pause so much challenges for many artistes.
It is against this sad development that many artistes had their dreams shattered as a result of poor remunerations they get from music.What the society needs to take into consideration is that music like any other industry, should be taken seriously and within it are artistes who are just like workers in the industry, who work day and night to earn a living.
This reminds me of one local artiste, Stunner who in an interview cited that he has sleepless nights while trying to make ends meet for his music career and after all the hard work, one simply practice piracy on someone’s hard earned product.
This reflects the seriousness on the part of an artiste and in return the outcome is so disappointing as a result of the unending illegal copyrights activities that have hampered our local music.A society without music is premature and how then can one expect music in Zimbabwe to grow when the streets still rely on piracy CD’s and DVD’s which are products of some backyard and unregistered shops found in many parts of the country.
Zimbabwe has lost many talented musicians who have moved to other countries and this includes the likes of Decibel ,Audius Mutawarira ,in turn ,the receiving countries receive more remuneration from the music done by our own artists and Zimbabwe does not benefit anymore from such developments but locals back home are forced to buy that music from those countries.
The lack of trust on local producing studios by local artists came as a result of piracy and many the likes of Alick Macheso ,Oliver Mtukudzi opted to record in countries like South Africa in a bid to protect their beloved music from piracy hence those countries benefit at the expense of our own artists.
Musicians on the other hand especially young artists are lacking exposure and popularity, does it mean that one has to produce close to 50 albums to be so much exposed like Tuku –Food for thought.In countries like America, a single track is enough to make one gain popularity. For instance Cash money Hip-Hop artiste Drake who gained momentum with a single track, the same should happen here in Zimbabwe if much support is given to our musicians.
How then can piracy be stopped, this is a cause for concern for all, the society should appreciate music as an industry that in turn requires returns on the part the originator of the product and the music discipline as a whole.In other words, the intellectual property created by the national of a country make up the culture of that country and from the most important part of its identity,i t is thus imperative both from an individual and a national standpoint that the production and dissemination of this intellectual be protected.
However, protection for instance in Zimbabwe encompass organizations such as ZIMRA, ZIMA ,and it's high time the legal frame work of Zimbabwe should be visited so as to come up with tough penalties on those found wanting.Security forces such as the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) should be engaged in this fight against piracy, a move that can bring forward a change in the music fraternity.ZIMRA in one of its lines that conforms to the protection of music, propounds that ,'The composer of an original music work is entitled to protection against the un-authorized use of his/her work as well as a share of any earnings from its use.'
