adminwhich he said he no longer needed as he was now using compact discs.
I had made a collection of my own over the years of over 3 000 vinyl records, so you can imagine what kind of catalogue I have in vinyl records. The problem now is that for the past 10 years, I have not been able to play any of my 5 000 plus records because I cannot find a stylus for my record player.
I could convert all of these records into compact discs, but who has got 5 000 hours (approximately 200 days) to spare?
Like a war of attrition, I have now accepted the CD. What option do I have when they no longer manufacture record players or their styli?
When CDs were first introduced, I tried to resist their use because I had fallen in love with the good old 12-inch album, which showed pictures of the recording artistes, the titles (and sometimes the
lyrics) of the songs, and all the credits in big writing.
The vinyl album had a lot of space to write all these things. Up to now I even have my first album, a 12-incher, pinned on my wall to show off to those who visit me.
I remember when my seven-year-old niece visited one day, she asked me pointing at my vinyl record, “Uncle, is it true that that thing hanging on your wall can produce sounds just like a CD?”
I was dumbfounded as I reflected on how technology had changed over the years. In the past, one could not reproduce a vinyl record because of the complex nature of the processes involved in making records. Nowadays with the advent of computer technology, music can easily be accessed through CDs, MP3s and downloads such as YouTube.
The advancement in music technology has defeated me. It is like saying you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. Many said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes because they wanted hard copy CD.
When they discovered they get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music they changed their minds.
This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death due to this advanced technology. Anyone who can operate a computer can burn a CD, and this is where the music pirates come in. If they are not interested in burning CDs, they simply download the music and listen to it for free. It is not just because of illegal downloading that is killing music.
The record labels and the radio conglomerates are also destroying music. Because of piracy, the record companies are hesitant to sign on new artistes.
They would rather reproduce the old stocks they already have in order to avoid spending any more money on new acts.
Over 40 percent of the music purchased today is “catalogue items” meaning traditional music from older established (preferably dead) artistes that the public is familiar with which the record companies know they can sell easily without worrying too much about paying royalties to the dead musicians.
It has been noted recently that less and less people are frequenting the few existing record bars to buy CDs, thus spelling the demise of the record shops and subsequently, the recording companies.
A lot of record bars that used to exist in the City of Harare such as Admire Taderera’s Music Box and Spinalong, have closed down because there is no viable business in such ventures anymore.
Imagine selling a CD at US$10 in a shop when the same product, despite its poor quality at times, can be bought for 10 percent of that price on the streets.
This problem is not unique to Zimbabwe alone. In Britain many record shops have also closed down. Sir Richard Branson, the London-based business magnate who created Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Railways, Virgin Mobile Telecommunications and Virgin Records. saw through all this a few years ago and decided to sell all his record shops to Zavvi Records which also went bust a few years later.
Virgin Records realised that there was no point in fighting with computer technology and music pirates and decided to throw in the towel. Another music store chain group, His Master’s Voice (HMV), with its flagship store in Oxford Street, London, is the last high-street music chain facing tough financial times, and this year alone, they closed down 60 record shops. More shops are on the cards to be closed down. Could HMV be the next high-street casualty?
Reports are that suppliers to the beleaguered music, film and books retailer are now being denied credit insurance suggesting that the end is near. The demise of such big businesses is mainly due to technological advancement which has allowed piracy to prevail and has propelled some unscrupulous people reaping where they did not sow.
There is no doubt that music piracy affects record stores, record companies and their artistes. It is reported that online music piracy alone has caused some record stores sales to drop by 20 percent every year.
Over 2,6 billion downloads of copyrighted music files have been reported worldwide on a monthly basis.
Because music piracy continues to harm the industry, it means that both record stores and record companies have reduced income and the artistes have very little or no royalties at all.
Further implications are that record companies begin to reduce their budget expenditures and may even get to the point of retrenching their staff. It also stifles their need to invest in new musicians.
In Zimbabwe today, there are several underground operators specialising in producing fake recorded music in the form of CDs and cassettes and selling these to unsuspecting consumers.
There are also those who make business using CD writers by simply buying blank CD-Rs and then copy any music they want or which they are asked to copy for a fee. This undermines the earning capacity of the originators of this music.
Nowadays, we even get people who think that they can make money by creating their own websites on the internet and begin to distribute music without licences or permission from the owners of such music.
The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act of 2000 in Zimbabwe states that only the copyright owner has an exclusive right to reproduce or publish his work to the public.
Today, at almost every street corner or shopping centre, there are several vendors marketing illegally acquired CDs, MP3s, DVDs and so forth, thus violating both the Copyright Act as well as the rights of the owners of the material they reproduce.
Anti-Piracy Organisation of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Music Rights Association can only act within the law to ensure that such activities are stopped, but they will not stop until more stringent measures are put in place.
Pushing the price of blank CDs to one dollar each and asking Customs to charge heavy duty on imported blank CDs might alleviate the problem.
This is where advancement in technology has defeated musicians. If only the good old vinyl record (which is difficult to reproduce), is brought back, musicians might start to earn a decent living through record sales once again.
- Fred Zindi is a professor at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a musician and an author of several books on music. He can be contacted via e-mail on [email protected]
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