The Minister of Trade and Industry (the dti), Dr Rob Davies, has urged South African citizens not to buy pirated music. He was speaking at the dti’s two-days anti-piracy roll-out campaign that was held at the Heilbron Fire-fighters sports ground in Ngwathe Local Municipality, Free State Province. Davies has expressed his concern that sales of pirated CDs and DVDs are on the increase and this is affecting the economy and lives of the artists.
“The effects and implications of piracy are huge, as they affect the income and jobs of the artists. I call upon you, to distance yourselves from these activities by refraining from buying these items and our anti-piracy campaign will not be successful if you continue buying fake CDs and DVDs,” said Davies.
According to him, the purpose of the campaign is to mobilise the public about the negative impact of piracy and to urge them to adopt an anti-piracy attitude. He added that it is also intended to educate and create awareness about the interventions contained in the existing legal framework, the Copyright Act and related matters, which can assist and empower artists.
The event is a result of a meeting between the dti’s Deputy Minister Thandi Tobias-Pokolo and the creative industry where industry members expressed their challenges and concerns regarding, piracy and copyright mismanagement and collection and distribution of royalties.
Tobias-Pokolo added that the dti is committed to ensure that the sector is formalised.
The roll-out campaign follows the national launch of the anti-piracy campaign by Deputy Minister Tobias-Pokolo late last year and it is joint venture of government, artists and Creative industry workers union.
Meanwhile, members of Copyright Review Commission (the CRC) that was appointed by Minister Davies to review the concerns of the creative industry regarding the collection and distribution of royalties to artists will conduct public hearings as from next month in all provinces.
The CRC is making a call to all stakeholders including artists’ organisations, community arts and culture groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), artists’ agents, and all interested parties to get involved and contribute and make their voice heard on these issues. Artists and various players in the industry are encouraged to make their input through these channels as well.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Source: Department of Trade and Industry
