Pirates of the Caribbean
Written by Janelle Forrester

More and more artistes have decided to print "Support local artistes and buy only original music" on their CD sleeves, as well as making impassioned appeals in an effort to combat a growing trend in the music industry - piracy.

When one thinks of the word "piracy", immediately one is awash with images of grimy men (though sometimes women) in all manner of black clothing, the skull and cross bones, swashbuckling, sword fights, nasty teeth and bounty: a version of Pirates of the Caribbean comes to mind.

But this is, in fact, even more underhanded, as artistes music is made available for sale or for free, using the most clandestine of means and for the most ridiculous of prices, considering the amount of work that goes into making an album.

When we purchase pirated/copied CDs, download music or ringtones from the internet or get friends to copy CDs for us, we become as bad as the pirates. We request - no, we tell - artistes, who provide us with hours of entertainment, to do so purely for the love of the artform, better yet for the culture. We are saying that artistes should take time off from loved ones, family and friends to write, record and perform for nothing. What a ridiculous request! If we worked for months to finally be told by our employers that they had no money to pay us, would our families understand? Would we? Why, then, would we ask this of artistes and their families? Because this is what we are telling them to do: if we support piracy, we do not even give them a choice.

Trinidadian calypsonian Blackie, who had on of the top songs in T&T for 2004, Ah Hook, was extremely surprised and disheartened when he found out that his songs and those of many other artistes were available for sale on a compilation album for TT$40 ($6 USD). Blackie, and many artistes like him, will never see even part of this sum. "I can t understand why they do it. They are forcing more and more artistes not to produce CDs. Sometimes we can t even recoup the cost. So why bother? It s just not worth it," he explained sadly.

In his 2004 calypso Sing Boy Sing, calypsonian Shadow (Winston Bailey) laments on behalf of calypsonians, composers and arrangers who are caught in a gridlock as they labour to make their tunes, only to find the pirates selling the CDs. "Sing boy sing, don t worry about no money, sing boy sing, take pressure and be happy. And when you sick the radio will play you, and when you dead the government will bury you," sings Shadow. Last month Shadow announced that he would not be releasing a CD for 2005 as a silent protest against piracy.

Issac Blackman the singer and producer of the hottest song in T&T currently, To The Ceiling, has been lamenting the nerve of street vendors (pirates) in T&T who believe that they are doing him a favor. In an intimate interview Blackman indicated that when he approached a vendor he was told that they made his song big so he should be glad. But of course gladness cannot pay mortgages, loans, car payments or make groceries.

Recently, in a controversial move, the T&T Copyright Organisation (TTCO), which represents mostly chutney artists, decided to sell music pirates a licence that would allow them to sell copyrighted music for artistes registered with the organisation. President of TTCO Dr Vijay Ramlal explained, "We would charge the pirates according to their projected income. They would pay five percent of that figure to TTCO and we would then distribute the funds among artistes registered with TTCO. What we are trying to do is to no longer call them pirates but make them entrepreneurs."

A soca artiste or calypsonian is no simple entertainer. He or she is expected to produce an album of 10-15 songs ever year, while their counterparts in other genres of music may have an album every 3-5 years. It normally costs a soca artiste or calypsonian approximately US $1,000 – US $2,400 (TT$6,000 - TT$15,000 or UK £600 - £1,500) to produce one song; when an artiste produces a ten track album it costs about US $16 000 (TT$100,000 or UK £10, 000) for the songs alone, so he or she will have put up about US$24, 000 (TT$150,000 or UK £15, 000) for the entire album. Of course this does not even take in to consideration marketing and distribution of the CD. One top producer indicated that it cost US$25,000 for them to put out their last CD.

When looked at from this angle, is it not worth the US$10-15 (£12-15 or TT$100-150), or whatever is the price of an original CD near you? Fans are always quick to say "I like ‘so and so artiste". However, in the words of rapso sensation 3 Canal, "Talk yuh talk, yuh mocking pretender," as that is all we do: talk. But as the saying goes, "Put yuh money where yuh mouth is," and reward the artistes who provide us with hours of listening pleasure via CD, radio (including digital and internet) and live performance? Are we really that selfish? Or are we waiting for Bunji, Iwer, Alison Hinds, Machel, Ajamu, Observer and other calypso and soca artistes to decide not to put out any new music and find something else to do, before we put ourselves in order?

The views expressed inside this editorial aren t necessarily the views of PeppaPot.com or its employees.