Article written by Mono Mukundu

The reason why the majority of music recorded before the piracy era was of good quality was because of the contract system that was used by record companies that time.
Artists were recorded free of charge by record companies, the record company would cover all costs from audio recording, album sleeve design, duplication of cds, video production. All these costs mean a lot of money.

 
In developed countries the minimum cost of a good video can cost from $20 000.
So the record company will recover all these costs from the sales of the album and share percentages with the artist.

 
So since the company covered all these costs, it meant that the company, through its music producers, made sure that the musicians performed to their standard, all substandard music was turned down.

 
These days artists pay for the studio time, so the producers don’t have much of a say because anemari ndiye mukuru.

The contract system has advantages to both artist and record company…to the artist it’s an advantage pakuti you do not pay anything to have your album recorded, so any broke or poor musician was able to record his music as long as he had good material.

To the record company the advantage is that it’s more profitable to record artists under contract, sell the music and get your percentage than use the cash system.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE CASH SYSTEM
Now when a country has such ruthless level of piracy like in Zimbabwe if the record company covers all costs for the recording there is no way they can get their money back because all revenue will be harvested by the music pirates.

 
As a result all record companies and producers have adopted the cash system, this means everybody who wants to record music has to foot his own bill, from music recording, paying session musicians, transport and food, photo shoots, album sleeve artwork, cd  and sleeve duplication, video shoot and production.

 
As a result all the talented musicians in the ghetto and rural areas cannot afford to foot these bills, the recording studios have bills to pay, they also need to survive too so they cannot give their services for free, end result it’s the music that suffers on a national level.

 
This means there is a lot of untapped talent lying idle because the artists cannot afford to pay.
Right now the next Oliver Mtukudzi, the next Bhundu boys, the next Mukanya is stuck somewhere in the rural areas or ghetto, with a song book full of hits that can put Zimbabwe on the map, but has no money to record the music.

DOES PIRACY HAVE ADVANTAGES?

To say that piracy has advantages because pane ma artists akaita popular nayo is the same as telling a rape victim kuti “Thank God at least you now have a baby as a result of the rape..”

You can’t say crime has an advantage, after all before piracy artists used to get popular still…but they would be rich and popular, the likes of vana Dembo,Chibadura etc….unlike nowadays where you get to be poor and famous.
Zahara released an album that sold 20 000 copies on one day, this used to happen in Zimbabwe, it can’t happen when pirated discs are sold openly like tomatoes kudaro.

I hate to hear people ask us “what have you as musicians done about piracy?”….what do you expect us to do besides raise alarm? Every crime victim’s duty is simply to raise alarm, then the law makers do their part, then the law enforcement agents do their part…period…don’t give us tips on how to beat “piracy competition”…sungai mbavha..period!

SO WHO DO I BLAME FOR PIRACY
Of course the economy contributed but the number one institution that has let us down in this case is the government.

 
Instead of seeing music pirates as criminals, they see them as competition, as a result we as artists are given tips on how to “beat the competition”,hanzi lower your prices and match the pirates….come on, don’t give us tips, sungai mbavha idzo!

 
When rural farmers complained about cattle rustlers, the farmers were not given tips on how to “beat the competition”, stiffer penalties were put in place and the situation was controlled, the same happened with carjacking and rape crimes.

 
If the government has the willingness to have all the pirates removed from the streets we all know they have the efficiency, it’s just a matter yekuti they are not willing to help, period….maybe they still see music as for marombe.

There is need for stiffer laws against piracy just like what they do in other countries, try to sell a pirated disc in USA and see what will happen to you, the FBI will hunt you down.

I just hope no politician will see this as something else that it’s not, this is simply a cry for help, matiregerera kumagitare, stop giving us those“piracy is a cancer” speeches at album launches, sungai mbavha!

(Please note: Do not contribute any inflammatory political statements, this is simply about music)

Mono Mukundu is a music producer and guitarist