OPINION: HOW PIRACY IS HARMFUL TO ARTISTS

Piracy in the simplest terms can be defined as stealing of music. Today, all content creators suffer from piracy. 

When a musician releases a song it is bound by copyright meaning that the music is rightfully theirs and can only be accessible to others if they assent to it. Although laws have been placed and have become instrumental in reducing copyright infringement, this problem is still very rampant.

Ideally, an artist is meant to get profit from the sale and distribution of their music, however, we find that this to most artists in Kenya has been a far stretched dream since most of their music is copied. The Internet has made it available everywhere. Luckily, the power of internet is that everything that attracts attention can be turned into revenue - through advertisers.

Platforms such as Mdundo give artists the chance to put their music up legally for fans to access, and for legal free downloads artists have a chance to earn royalties for it. 

The music industry is not alone. File sharing services such as Pirate Bay allow users to share larger files including videos and softwares, faster than ever before. In 2012 over 4 million episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones were illegally downloaded, to cite an example.

We live in a time where music doesn’t have to cost anything. Fans can find it online whether you want it or not, available on Youtube, Waptrick and Soundcloud, etc.

To propose a solution that helps prevent piracy, lets make the music affordable, easier and faster to get it. The availability of inexpensive, high-quality legal music reduces the demand for illegal, poor quality music. With that piracy would be on its way out.

BY PETER N