Musicians meet to fight piracy, improve business
In Belize, like almost anywhere in the world, we could not imagine life without music–especially our own music. But apart from its place in Belizean culture, music is increasingly a business…and according to musicians meeting today in Belize City, that business is shaky.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The Music Industry Association of Belize boasts that the country produces a greater quantity and variety of music than most countries in the region, yet local artists continue to struggle to have their work respected at home. What is the problem?
Ivan Duran, President, MIAB
“Something has happened in the last few years, we believe within the music industry. We are starting to see less albums being produced, we are starting to see less investment in terms of time and dedication to those recordings.”
MIAB’s President, Ivan Duran, says the music industry is at an all time low because for the simple reason he believes those in the business has lost confidence. Any artist would tell you it’s not fair that they spend time and money on cutting an album only to have their work copied and sold for half the price of an original record. Although the copyright law was passed in 2000, local artists have yet to benefit from the legislation
Ivan Duran
“Something has gone wrong and MIAB will be working very hard to address this issue because it’s the only thing we have on our side. And not only record producers, but artists and recording engineers. You would be surprised the amount of people that the industry employs, and it will affect, ultimately it will affect everybody”
The piracy has affected sales. Duran says it was only five years ago that artists were selling up to ten thousand cassettes, today, artists are lucky if they can market a couple thousand CDs.
Ivan Duran
“It is a problem. Why? Because the public is being forced to choose between an original Belizean product and a pirated imported one costing five times less. So it’s very difficult and it’s very unfair for the artist to have to compete in an unfair market like this. Like I mentioned in my presentation, our albums compete worldwide with other quality products side by side in any music shop where you go. We need to have that same kind of treatment in our own country.”
“It’s very sad to say today that there is piracy going on in Belize with local albums, which is something that was unthinkable only a few years ago. So something has gone wrong and MIAB will be working very hard to address this issue.”
The issue was just one of many problems discussed at the first music industry conference hosted by MIAB. The purpose of the gathering was to see what can be done to develop the industry and protect the work of artists.
Ivan Duran
“It was time for the industry to come together and look at some of these issues and see how we can move forward. We are very confident that we know where we want to go and we know what are some of the solutions. It’s just that before we did not have the opportunity to come together and tackle them. But we are also very optimistic. It’s not like everything is just grey.”
Duran says they have been more encouraged by the positive response they have received abroad than at home. MIAB hopes to work with the public through campaigns to help get the support they need at home for the industry to be a success. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
To promote the works of Belizean musicians, MIAB says next year they will be holding a series of events that include local music awards, music expo, music festival, and a national music awareness tour.
