As the 2015 calypso season begins, a strong plea is being made to music pirates to allow calypsonians to make a profit on their music.
Piracy has taken a tremendous toll on the music industry world wide and calypso in Dominica has not been spared.
Manager of the Showdown Mass Camp and calypsonian, Daryl Bobb, and local promoter and MC, Leroy “Wadix” Charles, have expressed their disgust with the whole matter and are begging local pirates to put an end to it.
“Piracy has destroyed the industry tremendously in terms of the fiscal aspect and the ability of us calypsonians to generate income from our music,” Bobb told Dominica News Online. “It has destroyed every dream of the calypsonian of making money out of his music outside the competition and throughout the year.”
According to him, in the last 15 years calypsonians have begun recording their music properly and to do that they have to spend between $500 and $1,200.
He said the songs are recorded not only to play on the radio but to sell as well.
“And by the time that song or that CD comes out everybody has it and is copying all over the place,” Bobb said, adding that under such circumstances calypsonians do not earn “one penny.”
“But here is this guy sitting on the side of the street and has not invested anything and he is the one benefiting. It’s unfair,” he lamented.
Bobb said that there are copyright laws in Dominica but calypsonians just need to know them.
He stated that a few years ago, Showdown Mas Camp was able to sell up to a thousand CDs but this is no longer happening and because of the that the Camp had to set up its own studio facility in an effort to reduce cost for calypsonians.
Bobb is of the view that pirates must be penalized in order to get the message out that piracy hurts musicians.
He is also arguing that customers have a big part to play since they provide the market for pirated music and the state of the economy should not be an excuse to break the law.
“It’s just a culture and people just need to remove mischief from their hearts,” he said.
Meanwhile Charles, who spoke on the matter at the media launch of the Stardom Tent on Thursday, said that he wants pirates to allow calypsonians to, at least, break even before selling their songs.
“Please allow the artistes to at least make some returns on their investment, please; at least allow them to break even,” he pleaded. “I want to urge the pirates, give us a little break, we begging you, give us a break this year.”
While admitting that piracy is a global issue, Charles said it is “even worse” in Dominica.
He pointed out that while artistes’ songs are being sold on on the streets, studios are still being owed and by the time such songs are ready for general consumption, none can be sold.
Police cannot enforce copyright laws. The copyright owner(s) should file a copyright infringement law suite with the courts. Now, whether the lawsuit will be effective and damages awarded depends on whether the alleged infringer can raise one or more legal defenses to the charge.
the police should intervene! not just sit down and get paid!!!
There are very few songs worth buying. I would not waste my time copying some of the nonsense some of these calypsonians sing.
To all persons interested in copyright there is going to be a seminar here on the 29th and 30th of January at the Garraway hotel. It is organized by the Intellectual Property and Companies office in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organziation (WIPO). It is completely free and everyone who owns or uses copyright material, be it music, photographs, films, videos, newspapers, radio stations, authors of books etc should make an effort to attend
Peace.
The police should confiscate all that pirated stuff and burn it at Morne Bruce, just like illegal drugs, if the vendors of these goods can not prove their copies are legal.
My CD is meeting me at the airport no mater where it comes from, cause I need to listen to it on my way to Roseau and my first stop is my Nani by Shorty
I do agree, BUT!!!!!! You guys are so slow off the mark………just over a month to Carnival and even Miguel Labadie was on air yesterday saying he has only 4 calypsos to air………come on, you guys also need to get your at together………but Piracy must stop……that is agreed upon.
The association seem lenient because after all they are not affected since their big bucks are made from the shows.
I’m not saying it works the same in a small market like the one for Dominican calypsos, but it’s interesting to note that in large markets like the U.S., it’s been shown that music piracy doesn’t actually lower sales.
Steve, that is a bit of a spurious argument if I may say so. One will never know how big Legitimate sales of music would be if piracy could be eliminated altogether. It obviously is a real issue , otherwise the industry would not be spending millions trying to combat it. In any case. music piracy is wrong.
Wadix, I hate to say it but appealing to pirates for fair play is a waste of time. I they were so minded they would not rip off people in the first place. The only thing that works is to take them before the court and hurt them where they feel it most, in their pocket. I think the calypso association could assist the artistes in this, after all is the association that makes money out of them too.
why isn’t the government protecting its tax payers? the police should be enforcing laws that’s the only way to resolve this situation cause people will always pirate but here it’s done as if its legal with guys selling recordings on the side road as if they have a store there or some kind of a right to do so. here the only crime seems to be drugs, robbery and violence.
Enforce the laws. People don’t respond unless they are punished. People don’t seem to understand the effort and investment an artist puts into his workwork in order to have a song recorded. I will not buy any non original work and neither should you. Support the artist
On the serious side though we need to respect the law and in the process allow the guys to earn some returns for their hard work.
Assertive, NOT Aggressive!
Hello and good evening my people. Well Mr Bobb and Mr Charles why don’t both of you hold a meeting with the Police Department and asked them to enforce the laws in regards to Trademark Counterfeit . Also why don’t the recording industry put a chip in the Disc which will self destruct if its copied. I always purchase original CD’s to support the calypsonians.
Lmao, honestly I’m gonna pirate some. Just being honest.