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| TOPPING THE LIST: Zahara won Album of the Year at the 18th Sama Awards held at Sun City. She also won Female Artist of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Best Selling Album, Best Smooth Urban Music Album and Best Collaboration. PHOTO: COBUS BODENSTEIN |
The reality of music piracy!
However, it is not happiness all the way. the issue of music piracy threatens the music industry in SA.
Music piracy is one of the main reasons why young and upcoming local artists don't make it as artists in South Africa. It is a problem that has been going for a long time and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere!
Some of the most pirated artists in South Africa include: Arno Carstens, Rebecca Malope, Mandoza, Joyous Celebration and the late Brenda Fassie.
There's been attempts by local musicians to fight against piracy but it doesn't seem to be working!
A pirated CD is cheap!
A genuine CD costs about R100 in store, a pirated copy of the same CD ridiculously costs between R5 and R10 from street vendors.
Unemployment is incresingly high, street vendors will do anything it takes to put some bread on the table!
Ordinary citizens don't want to spend a fortune on a single CD that's going to be scratched after a few days. So they'll continue to buy pirated music.
It's wrong to do that, but the reality of the matter is that it saves people money and they won't stop doing it!
What is government doing about music piracy?
From a PR angle, government has realised that piracy is slowly but surely killing the country. Among other activities, Department of Trade and Industry proposed new Anti Piracy Campaign which would see the creation of a commission to prevent intellectual property theft predominantly in the music industry.
But I don't think this is enough, people's perceptions and behaviour won't be changed by a campaign that simply says: "Be original, buy original"!
More work needs to be done. In the meantime, sharing and copying of music continues and artists are gaining peanuts!
