African roots musician, Sekurutau shares his opinion about Piracy

[Len]

AFRICAN roots musician, Sekurutau — as Bryn Taurai Mteki is popularly known — has slammed upcoming musicians for helping to fuel the scourge of piracy, as they believe it is a way of reaching out to fans and attaining fame, yet it robes established full-time musicians the opportunity to earn a living.

Sekurutau said it was disturbing that some artistes did not appreciate that piracy was criminal and deprived musicians of significant royalties from record sales

“The massive increase in music piracy is treasonous to Zimbabwean artistes, the music industry and the country at large. It is worrisome that there are some artistes, who take pride and celebrate that piracy has brought them fame, while for some of us it buried all the revenue that from 2004 to 2008 I temporarily stop recording in protest to raise awareness,” he said.

Sekurutau said in the past, established musicians such as Leornard Dembo, Paul Matavire, Oliver Mtukudzi and John Chibadura made their money through a combination of record sales and live shows, but this was no longer possible due to the scourge of piracy.

Sekurutau said musicians must not dig their own graves, but protect their legacy.

“If all musicians join arms, stiffer policies on piracy can be implemented by the government through policymakers not to justify piracy claiming it is promoting them. We have to take control of our fate, the future of our music and our national heritage,” he said.

“The government and all stakeholders must look into this problem (piracy) as a matter of urgency. Jamaica is known for reggae, America is known for RnB Soul and pop while Zimbabwe we are also known for our rich music.”

Sekurutau said musicians must stop the culture of being “charity cases” by constantly hero-worshiping dishonest promoters.

“It is time that we rise to the occasion and make it more profitable to be a musician and treat it as a normal business and command the respect that we deserve as masters of arts,” he said.