Bill threatens artists’ rights

“For 34 years in the music industry I have always seen music as a way of articulating my feelings; of expressing what I wish for, what I want to see. I’m so upset about this bill that wants to give away our rights as artists.”

Chaka Chaka is speaking about the Copyright Amendment Bill put before parliament by the department of trade & industry.

The bill has been criticised for its vague specifications regarding ownership, royalties, and re-use.

Chaka Chaka releases music under her own label but relies on digital and other channels for distribution, hence her concerns about the bill, which has the potential to damage the earnings of local artists if it is passed.

“Of course we want our music to be played in all avenues,” she says. “Music has gone digital and technology plays an important role, but to take away the rights from the people who write it and sing it and produce it is madness. They are robbing us of our intellectual property.

“Why should my music be exploited so that somebody else benefits? I have paid the studio and the producer and everyone else involved so that I can make my music and it has to benefit my children and my great-grandchildren.

“We have to fight this. I urge the president, the minister of trade & industry, and all the powers that be, not to pass this bill. We must not allow it.

“People will not continue to make music if they are not able to benefit from it. We will have rubbish music.”

Her life in song

Yvonne Chaka Chaka (born Yvonne Ntombizodwa Moloko Machaka) burst onto the scene as a teenager with the 1984 hit single “I’m In Love With a DJ”. Her latest album, “Keep Looking At Me”, is a melange of evocative lyrics and soaring vocals. It includes the track “Kulila”, with backing vocals by a choir of Namibian orphans, and the heart-rending ballad “Pardon Me”, inspired by the 2015 photo of a Syrian toddler found dead on a Turkish beach after a refugee boat sank.