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Posted: Friday 1 November, 2013 at 12:11 AM

Socrates: Musicians not defending themselves against piracy

Sylvester ‘King Socrates’ Hodge
By: Terresa McCall, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PIRACY is the bane of artistes’ existence, and in St. Kitts and Nevis, they continue to suffer through the loss of untold sums because of the indiscretion of pirates. But could it be because of their unwillingness to take the appropriate action? 

     

    For several years, renowned calypsonian Sylvester ‘King Socrates’ Hodge has been advocating for artistes of all genres to receive some sort of protection from those who easily pluck thousands of dollars out of their hands by simply acquiring their material and reproducing it, whether for monetary gain or personal use.

    For years, Socrates has been calling for mechanisms to be put in place, not only to protect the artistes but also to protect the art forms, which he suggested are slowly fading because of piracy.
     
    “If you look around St. Kitts and Nevis, there are no local outlets which sell local music except for the pirates on the streets. As a result of the piracy issue also, many calypsonians and other local artistes have stopped recording. So there is ever a great need to have those anti-piracy laws enacted. I happen to believe that they were legislated some years ago to accommodate the Carifesta celebration here in St. Kitts because the artistes who were coming in needed that protection. Beyond that, there has been no enforcement.”

    It is Socrates’ belief that the artistes themselves are responsible for bearing the brunt of the blame for lack of mechanisms, because previous calls for them to unite for their own good and for the good of their trade have all gone unheeded.
     
    “Now, there are people arguing that calypsonians and the local artistes are to be blamed for that. They may have a point because we have yet to form any form of local association to lobby for our rights as performing artistes to protect our work. I know that Claudette Jenkins was part of some committee to look at intellectual property rights for people within the Federation. Beyond that, I’m not sure that anything has been done…

    “Musicians cannot always put the onus on the government to do things for us. The track record is that the government only moves when there is an organisation that lobbies on behalf of the particular bodies. That call – to form such a body - has been put out several times unanswered.

    “I happen to know that local operators in the entertainment industry like Mr. Adrian Lam. Mr. John Francis and I were part of an organisation that was trying to put something in place but we needed the legal framework to be able to make it workable, and that is as far as we have gotten. But in terms of trying to get to all the local entertainers to come together to form a musicians association, that has been unsuccessful.”

    In reissuing the call for all musicians across the Federation to unite their effort in calling for protection against piracy, King Socrates said there was also need for mass education on the issue.

    “And there is a lack of education because, for example, if I go to the police and tell them that a certain person is pirating downtown, they don’t know how to proceed. The police have not been instructed and there is a lack of education as far as the public is concerned to take a matter before the Court.”

    The multi-time National Carnival Calypso King expressed his willingness to lending his energy and time “to assist in getting legislation in place and active”. 
     
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