Cameroonian music – Overcoming the piracy hurdle

Producers and musicians alike are at a loss: how do they make money from album sales when pirates are feeding fat from their sweat. As soon as an album hits stores you find it on street-corners or  pavements being given away at crippling prices. Producers who invest fortunes and  hope to reap gold from their platinum albums are left with nothing but the crumbs. Instead of looking for an accountant to help them keep count of their money they are left looking for the answer to one question: should they continue investing to produce  c.ds or should they better exploit alternative sources  of revenue like concerts,corporate endorsements, appearance fees and merchandising?  This particular question is extremely important in an industry like ours where the culture of buying  songs from new platforms like  itunes is still to take root. The problem is further compounded by  hardship and the easy availability of pirating-tools like computers and the internet. So what should be done? Any suggestion should only be taken a for what it is – a suggestion. Since the piracy trend isn’t showing any signs of waning anytime soon, I think  it is best if producers, record execs and artists  start  giving serious thought to alternative sources of revenue generation like corporate endorsements, appearance ,show hosting and merchandising . In short, artists must become moguls if they want to live off their art . This option will obviously mean that  quality and public-centredness will have to  characterise our music henceforth. You cannot organise a concert or expect to be paid for appearing at an event when you don’t have a legion of hits to your name. The era of  c.d-sales-made-me-rich is over. The era of artist mogul has begun. That’s a move pirates can’t copy and sell. Feel free to think otherwise but why not agree for once. Lol