IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

by Terry Joseph

THE Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) has praised an anti-piracy initiative by two independent producers of recorded music, who yesterday announced a bounty of $500 for any person reporting unauthorised duplication or sale of their music.

To collect the reward, tipsters must be willing to participate in a “sting” operation, posing as buyers of unlawful copies of their music, and to co-operate with police thereafter, up to the point of testifying in court against the pirate.

The bounty rises from the basic $500 for snaring a pirate to an unspecified larger sum if information leads to the source of unlawful printing of CDs or tape duplication.

The producers, Moonasar Chankar and Ajeet Praimsingh, have both invested heavily in local music productions over the past two decades, releasing mainly calypso and chutney hits.

“Our backs are against the wall and the police seem only able to help on a time-available basis,” said Chanka, whose extensive catalogue includes massive successes in both genres.

Chankar said he got help from police on Thursday when more than 300 CDs were seized from a roadside salesman in South Trinidad. “In New York you could always get an officer to make a raid but here, with all the other demands on the service, it is if they could spare a constable to go with you to deal with music pirates,” he said.

Penal-based Chankar, whose portfolio includes an impressive list of calypso and chutney hits, recently released Volume Nine of his annual Chutney Party Mix, a CD he said pirates were unlawfully reproducing and selling even before the authentic version was locally released.

“They hurt us even with the oldies,” Chankar said. “Every back-in-time CD that has calypso or chutney on it certain to have some of my work, music I invested in and somebody just takes it and reprints it for sale as if it was theirs. That is not only bad for us but will eventually make other people unwilling to produce local music.

“When people hear about crime affecting business, they tend to think of breaking and entering or armed robbery in broad daylight but our situation is only different in that the thief does not wear a ski-mask or sneak around. He operates openly and you could say is part of normal everyday vending, although he is selling stolen goods. And particularly with the oldies, people somehow don’t see it as crime,” Chankar said

Among Chankar’s in-demand vintage calypso hits are Johnny King’s “Wet Mih Down”, Kitchener’s “Bees Melody”, Scrunter’s “Sing in She Party”, King Fighter’s remake of “Come Le We Go, Sukie” and hit singles by Black Stalin, Organiser, Squibby, Preacher, Blakie, Funny, Power and Trinidad Rio.

“With the chutney,” he said, “like is open season.”

Speaking yesterday to the Sunday Express, COTT CEO Allison Demas praised the move.

“We support the initiative of Chankar and Praimsingh,” she said. “They have taken extraordinary business risks, between them a substantial investment in this country’s music and over a protracted period, so they deserve no less than exclusive enjoyment of relevant returns.

“This is an approach that has worked successfully in other areas and we see no reason why it should not duplicate accomplishment in the music business.

The street pirates are to be found everywhere and although COTT has instigated the police to conduct several raids on them over the years, they bounce back to the very sidewalks sometimes mere hours after arrest.

“We are particularly interested in the result of any search for the source of mass-production of pirated music because although there’s a street pirate on virtually every corner, the critical information about the source of piracy has been a well-guarded secret. Perhaps with the offer of a financial incentive, information regarding the real culprits—the mass manufacturers—will be forthcoming.

“Piracy is a major scourge on the local entertainment industry and affects the livelihood and revenue of a wide cross-section of our population. It’s not just the producers like Chankar and Praimsingh but artistes, songwriters, music publishers, legitimate retailers and distributors and even Government, since pirates do not pay taxes,” Demas said.

Persons with information on music pirates unlawfully selling the property of Chankar or Praimsingh should call 647-5214.

I thought it was Bounty (Killa) commenting on music piracy....

(Can take the girl outta Jamaica...)

I'm glad to see somebody start the action on this...Not quite sure how valuable $500 TT is, but some people will sell their soul for a Coke and a smile, especially since Carnival coming up, so hopefully it will help the piracy situation.

Close to $100 US

I'm a bit skeptical...In my opinion the bounty is too low for the level of cooperation required...I mean who is going wait until the trial date to testify against a pirate for TT$500?...It would make sense for the pirates to pay them a little more money not to testify.

Respect.

Redlocks