I must start by admitting that it is ideal for all forms of art music inclusive, to be protected by stringent copy right legislation; aimed at protecting the artists and ensuring their maximum benefit from their work.
However, I am more of a realist than I am of an idealist, and this is what I feel.
Given the fact that the Ugandan music industry is fragile and barely out of infancy; coupled with the fact that the industry is devoid of professional structures, stringent copyright laws are less helpful than they are productive.
I believe that emphasis should first be put on strengthening professional structures! Let’s create strong production, management, promotion and marketing mechanisms before we think of protecting the rights of an industry that is barely off its feet.
I’ll start with piracy and uncensored duplication. In this area, we are primarily talking about the guys in shopping mall corridors who burn CDs. Truth be told but eighty percent of Ugandan musicians take their music themselves to these guys; with the aim of having it popularized and widely known, there by attracting many to their concerts.
In the absence of these guys that burn CDs, Ugandan musicians must therefore be ready to heavily invest in all forms of publicity. The stars you see in mature music industries invest heftily in publicity; including radio, television, print media, billboards and all the other forms of public outreach.
Musicians must also be ready to invest in a professional marketing and sales infrastructure, aimed at ensuring record/album sales. It is very easy for anyone to argue that this will affect only the upcoming musicians and not the top guns. But let’s be realistic; how many Ugandans can part with 15.000/= to buy a Ugandan music album, when they can access better quality international music online, free of charge?
As if that is not bad enough, stringent copy right legislation means that it will be as hard as squeezing juice from a stone, for an upcoming artist to break even. Well, you can argue that this will ensure quality and that only the best get through. Need I remind you that you might never know which musician is good, until you get to hear about them? Stringent copyright laws will make it hard for you to hear about them.
In the mean time, copyright laws should be more civil than criminal. This way, the onus will be on a particular musician to decide whether or not they want to sue for infringement. This is opposed to a criminal set up, where the onus is on police to apprehend culprits.
This way, we shall enable the growth of our music industry and get tougher laws when the timing is more realistic.
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