Musician urges govt. to help reduce piracy in entertaiment industry

Musician urges govt. to help reduce piracy in entertaiment industry

Thursday, June 26, 2014 2:18 pm


Efa

Efa

Lagos – A renowned musician, Efa Iwara, popularly known as “Efa” on Thursday urged the government to look for ways to reduce the spate of piracy in the entertainment industry.

Iwara told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that piracy had taken its toll on the creative output of the nation’s numerous artistes.

“The Alaba market has been the problem of the industry and has made lots of musicians not to get their money’s worth because of piracy.

“We should find ways to make this copyright and distribution legal. We should find a common ground for everyone involved.

“To do all these the authorities need to be seriously involved and make it happen,” he said.

The musician said there was the need for understanding with the cartel that had made it difficult for artistes to benefit from the proceeds of their enterprise.

“There is a need to find a common ground with the Alaba International Market traders and the stakeholders.

“I guess what should be done is to find a common ground for piracy legality.

“Alaba as an institution still stands till today, I am not saying they should kill people or arrest them forcefully or remove them from their homes, or take away their means of livelihood.

“Something has to be done to address this issue once and for all,” he said, adding that the government was in a better position to foster a workable compromise.

“Going to seize their duplicating machines or musical printed copies has not deterred them from doing what they are doing.

“It is just a waste of time and energy doing all that, instead, a stakeholders meeting which will involve the government, producers and Alaba people to resolve the problem should be called,” he said.

“It is as if a person stole money from you, you want to go and fight the person in his house, it is not proper. You call in the police. We are calling on government now.

“That is why we have authorities in governance to handle these things. If the government cannot step in and do this for us what is the point of our paying tax?

/NAN


Join The Conversation

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.