(CNN) — Nigeria’s music industry is flourishing. However, it faces a big threat — the scourge of piracy.
But the tide is changing, say the country’s top music stars, who are stepping up efforts to reform the industry and are putting pressure on the government to crack down on pirates.
One of Nigeria’s most celebrated artists is among those calling for action to stamp out the problem.
“Piracy is still a very massive issue because there is no control in terms of producing the CDs and no barcodes. You don’t even know where it is coming from,” said hip-hop and RnB star Innocent Idibia, popularly known as 2Face.
Idibia is no stranger to the international scene and his music has won him a string of awards both at home and abroad.
But while he has been recognized for his work he feels that back home there is a lack of respect for artists and that the police do not view piracy as a serious crime.
“A policeman might be standing here, someone might be selling pirated copies over there and he wouldn’t even look at it as though someone is committing a crime and he might even buy one!” he said.
“They love the music, they want to listen to it, they dance to it, they buy the pirated copies, but the respect for the actual intellectual property is not there,” he continued.
Only a decade ago, there were only one or two compact disc production plants. Today there are 28 in operation and the country has its own copyright commission, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).
According to the latest
Strategic Action Against Piracy report released in 2011 from the NCC, piracy of CDs, VCDs, DVDs cost just over $3.5 million a year.
Idibia is no stranger to the international scene and his music has won him a string of awards both at home and abroad.
But while he has been recognized for his work he feels that back home there is a lack of respect for artists and that the police do not view piracy as a serious crime.
“A policeman might be standing here, someone might be selling pirated copies over there and he wouldn’t even look at it as though someone is committing a crime and he might even buy one!” he said.
“They love the music, they want to listen to it, they dance to it, they buy the pirated copies, but the respect for the actual intellectual property is not there,” he continued.
Only a decade ago, there were only one or two compact disc production plants. Today there are 28 in operation and the country has its own copyright commission, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).
According to the latest
Strategic Action Against Piracy report released in 2011 from the NCC, piracy of CDs, VCDs, DVDs cost just over $3.5 million a year.
Last year the industry decided to close ranks and establish the
Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) to give advice to artists about copyright and licensing their music.
The collective also promotes the rights of artists and acts as an industry watchdog.
The NCC and COSON are backing Storm 360 to release an anti-piracy song early next year as part of a wider national campaign.
Asika hopes that artists like 2Face will get involved to help educate music fans about the problem of piracy.
“Education, communication, campaign — if you do not educate people you cannot expect them to know there is a real problem,” he said.
Idibia says the issue of piracy is even more aggravating considering the difficulties Nigerian artists face in getting their music to market. He compares the emergence of artists in Africa to “rose flowers growing from rocks.”
But he says the good thing about the African music scene is artists are not afraid to speak up for what they believe in, which could help improve their rights.
“The trend is we get ourselves involved in everything that affects our lives and we speak out. We talk about it,” he said.
Source: CNN
