WANANCHI,
I found this article online and decided to share it. Iit's sad how people can manipulate others. There are a few that I personally know and I know there's a way to make them pay for their greedy diabs. Let's stop these parasites.
Love
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It has just been brought to my attention a South Africa group by the name of Jamali
http://www.jamali.co.za/ who have re-recorded
Nameless track
Maisha. According to Mymusic ( East Africa's online music distributor)
http://www.mymusic.co.ke ,word has it that there was no knowledge of this by Ogopa DJ's and Nameless, who was shocked by the discovery, through a friend of a friend who has the CD itself.
I have been talking about something like this happening for years now.It is so funny but history has just repeated its self.
I guess we all still remember the song "Malaika" by Fadhili Williams which was re-recorded by Mariam Makeba and became a huge hit after she re-published the song in her name in the U.S.
Now we are having the same problem with this new crop of South Africans (and some Kenyan so called promoters/producers) and I promise you from what I have heard from the album, the " Maisha" version on their album is the only hit on there and being that they are being pushed by EMI Music ( one of the largest music labels in the world), things are going to get very interesting. As Liezl one of the group members says It is set to
become a high rotation single and its their favourite on the album.
I hope that the artists back there are learning from this, because before long it will happen again.The problem with East African Urban music is that its over stretched beyond the reach of the artists.The solution is creating partnerships to cut down on publishing infringements as the one which was done by Jamali.
The East African industry also has limited its self to the outside world due to what I call paranoia, hence this limits the access to the labels in the region which produce the music.There are no websites and if there is one, no one seems to know the power of E-Commerce yet. So they never reach out or even reply mail.
The things which need to be structured:
Publishing
Copyright
Royalties
Proper Functioning Record labels
Artist Management Companies
Booking Agencies
And most importantly creation of a music clearing agency.
Philip Roy
Swahili Entertainment Inc.
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Have a nice day