Piracy isn’t just an issue in developed countries. Nigeria, like other developing nations, has a serious issue with music piracy. So much so in fact that the Nigerian Music Industry Coalition, a collection of the key record labels and associations, has created a day to bring awareness (and ultimately reduce) the rampant piracy which is prevalent in Nigeria. The day has been dubbed by the Coalition as “No music day”, however this title is somewhat misleading. Instead of the whole day, music broadcast will only be restricted by the coalition between the hours of 8am and 10am. “No music day” will be held this year on the first of September, it’s fifth consecutive year since its original incarnation since in 2009.
The success of “No Music day” is up for speculation. I couldn’t find any numbers or any data to suggest either way in regards to its effectiveness so I will have to make an educated guess.
If I’m being completely honest there are a couple of reasons which lead me to believe that “No Music day” will not be particularly effective. First of all, while the restriction of music broadcast is during peak radio listening hours, 8-10 AM when most people are getting ready for work, September first is a Sunday. Second of all, regardless of the fact that Nigeria is a developing country, it is still in the year 2013; an average person may not have the means to have access to Spotify or other music streaming services everywhere they go, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have other ways to listen to music such as a using cassette or CD.
Finally, I fail to understand how restricting a person from using a legitimate source of music affects those pirating the music. I suppose the aim of the coalition, was to help people realise that if they continue to pirate music, then they may soon live in a world where there artists will be reluctant to venture into releasing new songs. However, it kind of seems to me as though the coalition is dishing out most of the punishment to the legitimate users more than the actual pirates. Afterall, it is not inconceivable that a person who pirates music will simply shrug after not finding anything to listen to on the radio and pop in a cd loaded with tracks he illegally downloaded from the internet.
Source:
http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=167123&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mi2nheadlines+%28Mi2N.com+-+Music+Industry+News+Network%29
