adminClive “Mono” Mukundu Own Correspondent
The reason why the majority of music recorded before the music piracy era was of good quality was because of the contract system used by record companies. Artistes were recorded free of charge, with record companies covering costs for audio recording, album sleeve design, duplication of CDs and video production. The record company would recover the costs from album sales and share percentages with the artist.
Since the record company covered all the costs, it meant that through its music producers it made sure that musicians performed to standards. These days artistes pay for studio time, so the producers don’t have much of a say on their music. The contract system had advantages to both the artiste and the record company.
The artiste did not need to pay to have the album recorded, so any broke or poor musician was able to record music as long as they had good material. The advantage to the record company was that it was more profitable to record artistes, sell their music and get their percentage as compared to the cash system.
Disadvantages of the cash system
Now, when a country has such ruthless levels of music piracy like in Zimbabwe, if the record company covers all costs for recording there is no way it can recover the money because all revenue will be harvested by the music pirates.
As a result, all record companies and producers have adopted the cash system. This means everybody who wants to record music has to foot their own bill — from music recording, paying session musicians, provide transport and food, pay for photo-shoots, album sleeve art work, CDs and sleeve duplication, and video shoot and production.
Talented musicians in the ghetto and in rural areas cannot afford these bills.
At the same time, the recording studios need to survive, so they cannot give their services for free. The end result is that music suffers on a national level. This means there is a lot of untapped talent lying idle because the artists cannot afford to pay for recording.
The next Oliver Mtukudzi, Bhundu Boys, Thomas Mapfumo is stuck somewhere in the rural areas or in the ghetto with a song book full of hits that can put Zimbabwe on the world map, but has no money to record.
Does music piracy have advantages?
To say piracy has advantages because it has helped some artistes to become popular is the same as telling a rape victim: “Thank God at least you now have a baby as a result of the rape”.
You cannot say crime has an advantage. Before piracy emerged, there were still popular and sometimes rich musicians like Leonard Dembo. Musicians of today are famous, but very poor because of piracy.
South African singer Zahara recently released an album that sold more than 20 000 copies in a day. This used to happen in Zimbabwe, but has been killed by piracy.
I hate to hear people ask: “What have you as musicians done about piracy?”.
What do you expect us to do besides raising alarm? Every crime victim’s duty is simply to raise alarm, then the law makers do their part and the law enforcement agents also do their part — period.
Do not give us tips on how to beat “piracy competition”, just arrest the thieves — period! They tell us: “lower your prices and match the pirates” — come on, don’t give us tips, just go after the thieves.
When rural farmers complained about cattle rustlers, the farmers were not given tips on how to “beat the competition”. Stiffer penalties were put in place and the situation was put under control. The same happened with car jackings and rape crimes.
If Government has the willingness to have all the music pirates removed from the streets, we all know they have the efficiency. There is need for stiffer laws against piracy just like what they do in other countries. Stop giving us those “piracy is a cancer” speeches at album launches, just go after the thieves.
Where do we buy your music?
If there is a frequently asked question every musician hates to hear is when fans ask “where do we buy your music?” To someone not knowing the extent to which piracy has destroyed our music industry, its easy to blame the musician for being disorganised. Some people are ignorant to the extent of blaming the musicians for fuelling piracy, saying their music is not available, which is not the case.
When piracy was allowed to operate freely it naturally pushed legitimate music selling companies out of business. Who can compete against organised criminals selling full albums for a dollar and where in the world have you ever seen a full CD going for a dollar?
On the Internet it is usually a dollar per song.
Music pirates are now the sole providers of music CDs and it seems they have full backing of the law in the sense that they are allowed to sell their wares right on the streets, with members of the police also buying from them.
The days when we used to have legitimate music shops, every released album was found on the record bars’ shelves. Every musician was allowed a chance on the market, but the pirates only sell the most popular artists because they want quick money. Artists are now recording just for the sake of pushing their names without any hope of selling anything. At one time artistes lowered prices to $2 per CD and as a response pirates lowered theirs to $1 per CD.
When the musicians lowered prices to $1 per CD, the pirates started selling at $1 for four or five albums. This is because they don’t have costs, they don’t put money into the production process, so they made 100 percent profit either way.
If Government had acted earlier, the problem would have been much easier to control. It is still possible to control music piracy if there is will on the part of law enforcements agents. As musicians, we hope and pray that one day our ministry will prioritise fighting the scourge of music piracy.
Clive “Mono” Mukundu is a musician, music producer and director of Monolio Studios
Online Reporter