If there is an industry that can instantly churn out wealth within a blink of an eye, then the music industry could count itself as such.
Musicians keep publicizing themselves and at the same time making money as part of total objective for entering into the industry.
A recent tour to the northern regions of the land witnessed huge intellectual property scuffle on matters relating to piracy. Andy Digital Promotions recently organized a show at Bolga that witnessed Castro and 5Five performing to thrill the audience. The show’s nostalgic charisma at Bolga gingered the people of Tamale to also scoop their share of the cake.
At Tamale, the feel was superb as Castro destroyed the musical neurons of the audience whiles 5Five firing their “African Girls” tempo to soothe the minds of the people of Tamale after their hard day’s work under this scorching sun.
The artistes were granted to do an interview at Filla FM but events delayed.5Five’s artiste Papi, Jack Brock and Bulldog (manager of 5Five) took a stroll in town to feel the atmosphere of Tamale metropolis.
In the process, they entered musical shops around and lo and behold, a lot of pirated works were been traded in bearing top giant labels like Kojo Antwi, Daddy Lumba, Ofori Amponsah, Castro, K.K Fosu, Nkasei, Quata, Kwesi Pee and a host of them. The team intentionally bought a couple of albums from shop to shop.
The degree of the pirated works incited their emotions to confront the culprits straight ahead. A group, together with a juvenile, was arrested in the process. The under-aged boy however pleaded with the team and was later released. The rest were sent to Tamale Central Police Station and the culprits were detained. A Good Samaritan called Tuba helped the team to do the shop to shop arrests as he knew where the perpetrators were.
The next day, the team-Jack Brock, Bulldog and Papi went to the police station to see how things had been. The team went out again to cause more arrests together with the police. They grabbed more pirators and were celled up in grip.
Due to fragile nature of events unfolding from the exercise, the team had to cancel and re-arrange their traveling schedule at STC station in Tamale. Whilst there, a team of police on board a car came directly to ask them to go back to the police station.
Jack and his people had thought that further clarifications were needed at the police station but events turned out to the contrary. They were forced to board the car and whisked straight to the Cop Centre.
When they discharged from the car, immediately the chief cop for that operation asked them to pack in at the counter-back. They feebly resisted but the law enforcement agent- the police-had upper hand. At the back of the counter were Jack Brock, Papi and Bulldog.
Jack quickly asked of the charge and the police hinted saying: “You have collected an amount of three million cedi (¢3,000,000.00) from the pirates as bribe and we acted on this report.” A top police official was quoted as saying.
Due to the network nature and corporate connotation pertaining to the industry, Jack phoned a top aide to MUSIGA President, Alhaji Sidiku Buari from Accra to intervene in the matter.
The police vehemently turned down the aide’s plea and continued to acquiesce to the tenets of the law when one fouls against the regime.
The paper also learnt that a police woman at the counter was quoted as saying that: “the District Commander of Police in Tamale has greatest interest in the case so the matter must be handled with care.”
These twists in events worry the paper so much because the complainants had now turned accused … which is which and who is telling the truth?
The complainants had to write their statement with help of Terry of Mframa fame. One may ask: how did they exonerate themselves from the 45 minute ‘imprisonment’? In law, evidence is the prime and supreme attestation and this weapon did not elude the disgruntled music players-Jack, Papi and Bulldog.
Jack quickly tendered in labels for evidence showing prominent artistes like Kojo Antwi, 5Five, Lumba, Castro etc. One worrying thing is the grammatical and mechanical inaccuracies of reproducing the names of the artistes on labels. The paper (Weekly Fylla) does not know whether they (pirates) want to deceive the public or their intellectual capacity cannot equate grammatical constructions….it is a fitting probe we are yet to carry out.
Continuing with the battle, the next morning, a Monday, the team stormed the Regional Police Headquarters to assess the aftermath of the whole exercise. They met the Chief Police Officer in-charge of the Northern Region and he said that this issue is a ‘tiny’ one but they will do something about it.
He continued saying the pirates, after been prosecuted on criminal offence, could be sued for civil violations and claims made there on. The team was not however happy with the statement.
When the paper contacted the police officer in charge of the case, he declined to comment and referred that the regional public relations officer is the very best person to talk to. All efforts to get him proved futile.
Showbiz personalities like Kofi Okyere Darko of Radio Gold and Yaw Sakyi of TV Africa have all confirmed the story as they were reached when the incident occurred. Amess, Castro’s manager, also confirmed the story. Investigations still continue.
