“kama song yako haiPairetiwi(Piracy) we jua hio ngoma yako si kali” Veteran rapper and music mogul Jua Cali supports music pirating.
So before you bash the statement in today’s age of enhanced creative copyright awareness, let’s hear his argument.
“Bongo La Biashara” hitmaker posted on his social media explaining how he and many upcoming artists became household names.
Jua Cali made this explanation from an observation his older brother pointed out to him about the Kenyan music industry.
-Jua Cali’s social media update-
The hit maker stated “kama song yako haiPairetiwi(Piracy) we jua hio ngoma yako si kali”
Undoubtedly the artist continues “At first sikushika anasema nini but later nika understand.”
However, he goes on to explain that he agrees with this statement due to two main reasons.
Consequently, he explains that piracy helped gain them access. Despite Kenyan entertainment being progressive, it has its limits.
-Does Jua Cali support music piracy?-
However, Jua Cali explains that piracy helped get their music albums to remote places where they themselves could not on their own.
“Wasee wa kupirate walikua wanafikisha song zetu places sisi wenyewe hautungeweza, huko ndani mashinani.” he stated.
Secondly, Jua Cali explained that piracy effortlessly made their music big in the country.
He however did highlight that even though the pirates made good money from pirating, in the long run, artists got endorsement deals worth much more.
“Piracy ilimake songs zetu more popular yes wasee wakuPirate walikua wanamake chapa thru that but in the longrun sisi ma artist ndio tulibenefit more coz doe zetu zilirudi ten fold thru performances and endorsements.”
-What artist should do?-
Jua Cali went on to ask artists to simply jump into the studio and make great music which everyone can benefit from.
Nevertheless, the “Kiasi” hitmaker shared that even with piracy, the odds were in favour of artists.
He goes on to explain “as they would make the most money over the popularity of their music.”
“Morale of hii story ni Wasanii!! Ingia studio make songs dope which everyone can benefit from.” He explains that “thru that wewe ndio utamake doe mob kushinda everyone else”
Jua Cali highlighted that Piracy on the “down low” is good marketing for an up-and-coming artist.
In brief, from Jua Cali’s view do you think Piracy is good for content creators?