PIRACY CONTINUES TO OUTSHINE ENFORCEMENT

Kgomotso Molelekeng | Monday January 20, 2014 18:21

Copyright owners continue to be impoverished by the scourge that seems far from being tamed.  Instead piracy has forced products' owners to become pirates themselves. The perpetrators are encouraged by the huge demand of their fake copies, usually low quality and much cheaper than the original. Not only informal businesses are fingered in the crime also formal businesses have turned to piracy, in an effort to beat competition in the market.

This is a crime that can be committed from the comfort of one's home.  In Botswana musicians and the infant movie industry are heavily dealt a big blow by piracy, and their interventions to try and curb the crime have not proved fruitful. Copies of their hard work are every-where, at a song compared to their production costs.  Formal businesses that are fingered in this crime say they are doing so in an attempt to stay afloat. 'It's difficult to compete with someone who gets things for free, and sell it at the lowest prices,' they said demanding confidentiality. They also note that customers tell them to their face that if they can't sell to them at the streets prices, they will not buy from them at all, rather they will buy from the streets.Botswana Music Union (BOMU) secretary general Pagson Ntsie, states that they are aware that there is a lot piracy in the music industry and that at the moment they are doing all they can to stop this bad act. He pointed out that they usually take the people who they have evidence against to the police who in turn enforce the law.A single copy is all it takes for the whole country to have a pirated copy. It changes hands more quickly than money does, and in a matter of seconds anybody who needs a copy can have it. Affordability of the latest technology to unlawfully reproduce fake work has not helped artists to benefit fully from their hard work. Not only artists of the hard work are finding it difficult to control this crime, also law enforcement officers are finding no answers to the crime.  Unlawful downloads of artists' work has become an important source of pirated artists work. It is easy and accessible to pirates. Botswana Police point out that this is a war that can only be won by all stakeholders, and the society at large.  They argue that as long as the society provides a market for this kind of crime, it will blossom and fuel the crime even more.  'First and foremost it should be understood that everyone is responsible for his or her products, and artist should themselves take a leading role in curbing this crime, and report it to the police,' Christopher Mbulawa, Assistant Commissioner said. He further stated that artists themselves should also desist from copying other artist products, whether locally or internationally. 'This is a war that can not be won from one front,' he said. On new technologies used to pirate other people's products, Mbulawa said it is fuelling this crime further. Some who engage in piracy argue that the era of CD's is coming to an end, and they copy music to safe keep it on memory sticks. 'Memory sticks can keep data for a long time, unlike CD's that scratch easily,' Thato Muzila said. He further argued that local artist should conform to international standards of selling music, instead of sticking to one outdated method. 

Piracy affects artists in a way that it slows down their market sales. Speaking to Mmegi recently, Producer and artist Bokang Proctor best known as BK Proctor was of the view that people who pirate their music are not doing justice to them especially as producers because instead of making profit, they make a loss. 'In the end it appears as if we have spent a lot in making an album as opposed to making profit out of it, imagine spending thousands and later getting a quarter of what you spend as profit, this is really depressing,' he said.  

He added that all this means that people are not buying their records but instead they are getting them copied. He said, people erroneously think that all artists make money but when 80% of the music industry today is made up of independent artists, this is no longer the case as making music costs money. 'Albums costs many thousands of Pulas to create, artists employ other artists, engineers, photographers and producers and all these people need to get paid but when the music is pirated there is no return on the investment it took for that album to be created,' he said.Proctor emphasized that when money doesn't come in to pay for the album made, the artists lose hope and moral and think that music is not a good career to venture into. Ultimately, the people who loved that artist and stole the artist music end up with nothing to entertain them and everybody loses. On the issue of other artists pirating their own music, Proctor said that it is really sad and it kills the music industry.  

'It's really a shame to think that more and more local musicians in Botswana are taking their products directly to the streets to cut out the middle man, this reflects badly on us musicians as we will be doing what we do not preach,' he said. Award winning artist, K-bos commented that the issue of piracy affects them a lot as artists and it demoralises them. He said, as artists trying to make it in life through music, they end up being the laughing stock as their music gets copied as opposed to selling.  

'Imagine putting hard work, determination and all the strength required to make an album then people love your music but instead of encouraging and supporting you they rather copy it and this kills you as an artist,' he said. Asked if the law is helping them in any way, he said he has never heard of any case of pirating. At the rate at which piracy is spiraling out of control at, stakeholders have all concurred that if it is not dealt with it will in the end render some careers unsuitable.