Musicians battle piracy
2003-12-23 07:41
Johannesburg - Musicians and record companies are singing a sad tune because of the on-going problem of pirated music in South Africa.
More than R350m is spent every year in a bid to stamp out this illegal practice, which has far-reaching consequences for the music industry.
Norman Letcher, head of enforcement for Risa, the body that represents the recording industry in the country, said it is not only artists who are being affected.
He said it creates a domino effect and is detrimental to everyone involved - from the artist to the buyer.
According to Letcher, the fight against music pirates could last for some time.
"As soon as they are caught, they move on and start the whole process over again," he said.
Vanessa Perumal, spokesperson for the South African Music Rights Organisation (Samro), said various role players are involved in the fight to stamp out piracy.
She said however, that Samro was only involved with the creative artist, while numerous other organisations such as the Musicians Union of South Africa (Musa) dealt with the recording rights and compensation issues.
She said these organisations had completely different missions and worked independently of each other.
Louis van Wyk, from Music Profile Management, felt that music pirates should not expect any favours. "It is nothing less than robbery," he said, adding that artists lost an enormous amount of money to this illegal practice.
He said his Afrikaans artists did not, however, suffer as badly as their English and international counterparts, but it still affected them.
He said Kurt Darren is one example of a popular singer who has been badly affected by piracy.
Darren said it was shocking how many people asked him to autograph pirated CDs after a performance.
"What's even worse is the number of parents that send their children (for autographs) because they are too afraid to do it," he said.
He said this often created an uncomfortable situation. What he preferred doing under these circumstances was to sign a photograph instead. "A lot of other artists simply destroy the pirated CDs," he said.