Govt Loses Sh4.7b In Music Piracy Annually
Apr 23, 2003
Music piracy is costing Ugandan musicians sh16b and the Government sh4.7b annually.
By Josephine Maseruka
Music piracy is costing Ugandan musicians sh16b and the Government sh4.7b annually.
Much of the piracy is done through selling of compact discs (CDs) and cassettes estimated at 10,500,000 pieces a year giving sh15.7b as revenue to pirates for infringing on the rights of would-be copyrights owners.
Mr. James Wasula, the secretary general of the Uganda Performing Right Society Limited (UPRS), said this yesterday at a copyright conference at Hotel Africana, Kampala.
The participants said piracy should be criminalised. The workshop, co-funded by the Uganda Law Reform Commission and UPRS attracted over 50 artists, authors and publishers.
Wasula regretted that Uganda has over 60 licensed radio stations that play an average of six songs per hour.
He said an active radio station plays a total of 108 songs a day and in a year 39,420 songs.
Wasula said if a radio station is to pay sh500 for each song played, copyright owners would make a distributable income of sh1.2b annually.
Wafula said due to unchecked piracy, official music dealers only recorded 1,500,000 albums as average sales leaving the 10,500,000 cassettes and CDs as pirated sales.
Ends
Music piracy is costing Ugandan musicians sh16b and the Government sh4.7b annually.
Much of the piracy is done through selling of compact discs (CDs) and cassettes estimated at 10,500,000 pieces a year giving sh15.7b as revenue to pirates for infringing on the rights of would-be copyrights owners.
Mr. James Wasula, the secretary general of the Uganda Performing Right Society Limited (UPRS), said this yesterday at a copyright conference at Hotel Africana, Kampala.
The participants said piracy should be criminalised. The workshop, co-funded by the Uganda Law Reform Commission and UPRS attracted over 50 artists, authors and publishers.
Wasula regretted that Uganda has over 60 licensed radio stations that play an average of six songs per hour.
He said an active radio station plays a total of 108 songs a day and in a year 39,420 songs.
Wasula said if a radio station is to pay sh500 for each song played, copyright owners would make a distributable income of sh1.2b annually.
Wafula said due to unchecked piracy, official music dealers only recorded 1,500,000 albums as average sales leaving the 10,500,000 cassettes and CDs as pirated sales.
Ends