Mtukudzi calls in the police as pirates clone new album

Mtukudzi calls in the police as pirates clone new album

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By John Mokwetsi

OLIVER Mtukudzi’s latest album, Tsimba itsoka, which is to be released in Zimbabwe sometime this year, has fallen prey to piracy and is being sold in the streets of Harare.

The album is already available in South Africa and the United States where Mtukudzi has independent marketing deals.

According to the Mtukudzi camp, the delay in releasing the album here resulted from the foreign currency crunch facing the country — local record companies have no capacity to package and supply the album.

But as they are still "working flat out" to have the album released in Zimbabwe, music pirates have been at work, flooding the market with their counterfeit copies. It’s assumed they were smuggled into the country from South Africa.

Sam Mataure, Mtukudzi’s manager and drummer said: "We are worried by this development. I am in the process of writing Tuku an e-mail because he is in South Africa on business, to tell him of this sad development. I am also going to report the matter to the police and hope that the culprits are brought to book."

Mataure said there was need for local artistes to come together and join the world in the fight against piracy.

This reporter bought a copy of the album for $400 000. The 12-track album is being sold from bags that the seller carries everywhere he goes. The cover is printed on bond paper and the CDs are recorded on cheap CD-Recordables accessible in many shops.

Mtukudzi faced the same problem with his 2005 hit album Nhava after unscrupulous backdoor record sellers openly sold pirated copies in the streets, despite it not being officially on the market.

World statistics on piracy after research done under the auspices of many musical organisations show that global sales of pirate music discs rose nearly 50% to an all-time high of 950 million units in 2005. The total world music pirate market was estimated to be worth US$4.3 billion.

Rick Dobbis, President of Sony Music International was quoted at the time of the release of the statistics as saying: "While piracy is a global issue that affects both artists and record companies, it’s important to note that most of the real pain is felt locally by the economies of the individual countries where the pirate products are manufactured and sold."

In neighbouring South Africa, piracy is the biggest threat to the otherwise flourishing music industry. Virtually every South African musician who has visited Zimbabwe in recent years has bemoaned the lack of stern measures to deal with music pirates.

In 2005, members of Malaika were surprised when they realised that copies of their album Vuthelani were already available in Zimbabwe months before the album was released here. - StandardPlus
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