News / National
Police accused of ignoring to deal with piracy
02 Mar 2017 at 05:58hrs | Views
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu has accused the police of concentrating in extorting money from motorists and ignoring the rot of music and movies piracy taking toll across the country.
He said piracy is killing our music industry in Zimbabwe.
"At almost every street corner and indeed,along most busy streets,one comes across vendors selling pirated music CDs and DVDs.What I find totally surprising is that our Police officers seem not to be bothered by this blatantly criminal and illegal activity.The Police officers are more concerned with extorting money from motorists," Gutu said.
"Our artists put in a lot of effort to produce their music.They are entitled to earn a decent living from their hard work.But then,pirates rack in the bucks at the expense of our hard working musicians.I'm totally disgusted by this.Back in the day,a popular musician could easily eke out a decent living through the sale of their music cassettes and CDs,I still vividly remember that the late Leonard Musorowenyoka Dembo managed to build his family a decent house in Belvedere,Harare,after releasing chart - topping songs such as Chitekete."
He said surely, people can't expect their artists to earn a decent living through live musical shows because their CDs and DVDs are being pirated by greedy and selfish crooks.
"Live shows should only bring supplementary income to our musicians ; the bulk of their earnings should be coming from the sale of their musical products such as CDs,DVDs etc.As a matter of personal principle,I will never,ever buy a pirated CD and/or DVD.I have a collection of more than 500 CDs and DVDs,all of them original," said Gutu.
"The law enforcement agencies are letting our artists down.Our artists should derive a decent living from their intellectual property.You can't expect an artist to stage no less than five (5) live shows a week in order for them to earn a living.I'm convinced that too many live shows by any artist stifle creativity and originality."
He said piracy is killing our music industry in Zimbabwe.
"At almost every street corner and indeed,along most busy streets,one comes across vendors selling pirated music CDs and DVDs.What I find totally surprising is that our Police officers seem not to be bothered by this blatantly criminal and illegal activity.The Police officers are more concerned with extorting money from motorists," Gutu said.
"Our artists put in a lot of effort to produce their music.They are entitled to earn a decent living from their hard work.But then,pirates rack in the bucks at the expense of our hard working musicians.I'm totally disgusted by this.Back in the day,a popular musician could easily eke out a decent living through the sale of their music cassettes and CDs,I still vividly remember that the late Leonard Musorowenyoka Dembo managed to build his family a decent house in Belvedere,Harare,after releasing chart - topping songs such as Chitekete."
He said surely, people can't expect their artists to earn a decent living through live musical shows because their CDs and DVDs are being pirated by greedy and selfish crooks.
"Live shows should only bring supplementary income to our musicians ; the bulk of their earnings should be coming from the sale of their musical products such as CDs,DVDs etc.As a matter of personal principle,I will never,ever buy a pirated CD and/or DVD.I have a collection of more than 500 CDs and DVDs,all of them original," said Gutu.
"The law enforcement agencies are letting our artists down.Our artists should derive a decent living from their intellectual property.You can't expect an artist to stage no less than five (5) live shows a week in order for them to earn a living.I'm convinced that too many live shows by any artist stifle creativity and originality."
Source - Byo24News
