Industry under siege by pirates

Tanzanian gospel songbird Rose Muhando is very popular in Kenya. Her albums, Uwe Macho, Kitimtim and Jipange Sawasawa, are being played not only in homes but also in public service vehicles.

Muhando recently toured Nairobi and performed at the Redeemed Gospel Church in Huruma, where she sang six of her unreleased songs.

Little did she know that someone with a mini camera was recording her performance. Three days later, Muhando’s “new” album, which she intended to release in December, was in music shops in the city.

That is the extent of music piracy in Kenya. The pirates, an IT-savvy lot based in downtown Nairobi, have found new business in selling DVDs and VCDs.

Muhando’s pirated songs are contained in a new 10-track album titled A Day With Rose Muhando in Huruma. It costs Sh50.

Although the sound is good, the visual bit is wanting, showing poor workmanship in its production.

The cover has pixilated shots of the singer and her dancers obviously frozen from the video camera used to shoot her Huruma gig.

Her local distributor, Simon Nduti of Nduti One Stop shop, says he is alarmed by the speed and audacity with which pirates are operating.

Muhando’s compatriot, Boniface Mwaitege, has also borne the brunt of piracy, with his album going for a maximum of Sh150 in the country. The cover of the VCD is made from leftover campaign posters of President Kibaki.

On one side is the musician’s photo and on the flip side is that of Mr Kibaki complete with the PNU symbol and slogan!As piracy grows in leaps and bounds, musicians and producers have been making concerted efforts to stop it but it is apparently so deep rooted that no respite is in sight.

Stripped them

Recently, a group of angry musicians invaded a business centre in River Road – which is the epicentre of Kenya’s entertainment industry – where they grabbed two alleged pirates, stripped them and forced them to walk in the city streets in the nude denouncing piracy.

The next day, three of those involved in the incident were arrested, charged in court and fined Sh3,000 for the offence.

In a storey building near the River Road-Ronald Ngala Street junction, one can get any kind of music at a small fee. Take the case of an Obama DVD which a Kenyan allegedly brought in from the US.

A source told Lifestyle that the man went to River Road with the original DVD 9 and paid Sh10,000. A pirate is said to have spent the night working and produced 1,000 audio copies which were sold the next day at Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani at Sh100. The man made a cool Sh90,000 profit.

I sought to buy one of the CDs there and was told to return after an hour and when I got back I had my copy. The man even showed me the original DVD, the cover of which bore the full colour photo of the Democratic presidential candidate.

So aggressive are the pirates that unconfirmed reports say Jerome Corsi’s book, The Obama Nation, which he had meant to launch in Kenya before Immigration bundled him out of the country, is available in soft copy in River Road.

The pirates have been doing brisk business with the ubiquitous Nigerian movies. Our sources say that the movies are brought in and then mass-produced and sold at a wholesale price of Sh50 a copy. Retailers sell them at Sh100 per copy. Being so popular, the Nigerian films have always had a ready market.

“The stories are so real that you feel like they are true, unlike Kenyan movies in which nearly all actors wear dirty clothes, act like amateurs and always tell stories about poverty,” says Mama Soni, an ardent fan of the Nollywood movies.

The pirated movies are discreetly sold in select stores in River Road to retailers who hawk them in pubs, open-air markets and estates in Nairobi and other towns.

Pirated Tanzanian movies sell as cheaply as Sh30. And the pirates have a special package for the lovers of Hollywood movies. For as little as Sh200, one can buy a DVD with 10 movies. Retailers obtain them in River Road at Sh150.

The pirated Hollywood movies are also found in Koinange Street, but here, they go for Sh500-Sh1,500. There are also the pirated pornography movies openly displayed in shops and sell at Sh500-2,000 in Koinange Street. One can get the same for Sh200 in River Road.

The public is fanning piracy. “Why should I buy a CD for so much when I can as well get the same for less than Sh40? The blank disk will cost Sh20 and the CD writing Sh20. If you have a computer in the house and it has a CD writer you just pirate any movie or music from the comfort of your home,” says Steven Kamau, an IT expert.

Interestingly, Kenyan movies are not pirated. The common notion is that Kenyan movies are not popular locally and there is no point pirating them as there won’t be customers for them. Besides, they are produced in River Road.

The Copyright Board has facilitated the arrest of many pirates but, when taken to court, they get off on a fine of as little as Sh5,000. Musicians and producers say that to stop the menace, pirates should be ruthlessly dealt with.

The group, which has humiliated suspects of late, said the only effective way to deal with pirates is to shame them. Others feel that the courts do not hand deterrent sentences.

“Pirates should not be fined at all because, even if you fine them Sh5 million, they will quickly pay and get back to River Road to collect another Sh5 million made as the case was going on,” says veteran musician and producer Peter Kigia, who is based in River Road.