[kictanet] Music Piracy in Kenya - Government can Help

[James Kariuki]

> Not every Kenyan can play music from other forms. Some people still have
> Cassettes and CD players. The issue of how music is sold to you is secondary
> AFTER its copyright has been managed. Lets not confuse the issue of
> copyright infringement with that of access to music.

Today am having a long and slow day - forgive me if am missing
something. You raise this issue here first because the music is
'pirated' and sold not as recorded/burnt CDs but as downloads off a
website. You also say that those accessing the music from some of the
hosting sites are doing so illegally because there is copyright
infringement. If there no access issue, copyright infringement would
not arise in the first place. My question to you is: how have you
placed yourself in the music industry to cater for a growing need of
electronic access (through downloads) of your music? I ask this
because the lack of a legal access to the music could have created an
avenue for others to profit illegally.

>
> Licensing limited number of duplicates just means an artist can tell the
> person making CDs to make 100,000 for now and when they need to make more,
> they contact the artist. On the internet though, downloads can move from 1
> to 1m in day....

If this is your view. But I think this is a 20th century way of
managing copyright and restricting access.

On a different note, have you tried through your sources to establish
if the hottest downloads are also the fastest moving sales? I remember
reading something a while back to the effect that availing your music
freely for download could bolster your sales.

--James