After a story on Le Samoa Newspaper (newspaper out of Apia, Samoa) a couple of years ago alleging the Teuila Productions company in Carson (owned by Georvani & Flo Mitchell) pirating hundreds of Samoan music/CDs, several stories popped up including several on some polynesian websites. After some investigation into the world of Polynesian music, four major players always surface in different parts of the Polynesian community.
(1) Moronai & Siale Iogi of San Bernardino, California seems to top most peoples list. They are the ones pirating almost all if not all of Tongas music and video. Their illegal supplies have surfaced in many stores as major suppliers of illegal duplicates of Samoan and Hawaiian music also. Its quite easy, if one takes a visit to one of your local Polynesian stores in the US, the chances are you will find one of their illegal products, usually a poorly copied front cover of a CD with no credits. It got to the point where many legal polynesian distributors could not distribute their music because these characters were having a monopoly in selling illegal copies for $5.00. So when legal distributor arrive at a store, usually own by a Korean, or a non-Polynesian, they are turned away immediately by these owners because they don't want to buy (legal) CDs that costs between $8-$12. As shrewd store owners, They always claim they don't know (or play ignorant) the illegal distributors or "We don't know who is legitimate and who isn't". Even after the person/musician (rightful owner) with their picture on the cover of the CD tries to explain to the store owner, that what they have are pirated copies, the owner still ignores the legitimate CD owner. To make matters worse, the legal distributors/owners of the music/CD are always treated with contempt by these owners.
The legal distributors usually are left with very few options. Reporting to the FBI, police or lawsuit are usually time consuming and expensive and not many have adequate resources to see it to the end. Several musicians have had some success in legal actions including having the police confiscating the pirated copies.
Some say, education is the answer. The reason why many store owners buy illegal copies because (1) it is cheaper ($4-$5); (2) Legal copies cost more. (3) customers still pay for them even though you can barely make out the front cover due to substandard copy machines that some of these pirates use. One store (a tip from one musician) in California had their own duplication operation at a back room of the store. We also found out similar store operations in Utah and Washington state.
Others such as Teuila Productions (Carson, California), Polynesian Flava/Wilson Edwards of San Bernardino/Long Beach and Frank Keil (Samoana Store) of Long Beach, have refine the art of piracy, in that they have redone cover graphics.
In some cases they have replaced original artwork by CD owners and replace them with their own artwork and it is often better than the original artwork done in Samoa or New Zealand.. This has made it difficult for the discerning buyer but it has also made it difficult for the rightful owners to track their products. A band in Samoa complained to this writer that he gave a couple of copies to Wilson to sell in the US, and now he found out that his CD with a complete new cover is circulated in American stores and he's not getting anything.
This is not a new problem, the American and European music industry have struggled with this for a long time. Can we learn from them? Yes and No! The global music industry have deep pockets, far reaching connections and political clout. There are laws in the USA, New Zealand and Samoa and elsewhere, but the public has to be educated. The education is simple, support our musicians by buying legal copies. More and more music will be produced by musicians when they benefit from it, and when they don't, music creation/production and quality declines. As one band leader in Samoa said "Why should we make more CDs when those guys just take one copy and make thousands and sell," He added, "When we went to America to distribute our CD, we couldn't sell any, the stores already had hundreds of (pirated copies) our CD, and they refuse to tell us who sold it to them".
Many musicians express frustration but all seem to have one hope, in that the community will eventually help them by not buying pirated copies.
It is quite clear that it is easier to persuade the public to buy legitimate copies than to stop the pirates.
FACTS: The chances of listening to a Samoan music that was illegally copied or downloaded is 1 out of 2, thats 50%.
Friday, January 23, 2009
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After a story on Le Samoa Newspaper (newspaper out of Apia, Samoa) a couple of years ago alleging the Teuila Productions company in Carson (owned by Georvani & Flo Mitchell) pirating hundreds of Samoan music/CDs, several stories popped up including several on some polynesian websites. After some investigation into the world of Polynesian music, four major players always surface in different parts of the Polynesian community.
ReplyDelete(1) Moronai & Siale Iogi of San Bernardino, California seems to top most peoples list. They are the ones pirating almost all if not all of Tongas music and video. Their illegal supplies have surfaced in many stores as major suppliers of illegal duplicates of Samoan and Hawaiian music also. Its quite easy, if one takes a visit to one of your local Polynesian stores in the US, the chances are you will find one of their illegal products, usually a poorly copied front cover of a CD with no credits. It got to the point where many legal polynesian distributors could not distribute their music because these characters were having a monopoly in selling illegal copies for $5.00. So when legal distributor arrive at a store, usually own by a Korean, or a non-Polynesian, they are turned away immediately by these owners because they don't want to buy (legal) CDs that costs between $8-$12. As shrewd store owners, They always claim they don't know (or play ignorant) the illegal distributors or "We don't know who is legitimate and who isn't". Even after the person/musician (rightful owner) with their picture on the cover of the CD tries to explain to the store owner, that what they have are pirated copies, the owner still ignores the legitimate CD owner. To make matters worse, the legal distributors/owners of the music/CD are always treated with contempt by these owners.
The legal distributors usually are left with very few options. Reporting to the FBI, police or lawsuit are usually time consuming and expensive and not many have adequate resources to see it to the end. Several musicians have had some success in legal actions including having the police confiscating the pirated copies.
Some say, education is the answer. The reason why many store owners buy illegal copies because (1) it is cheaper ($4-$5); (2) Legal copies cost more. (3) customers still pay for them even though you can barely make out the front cover due to substandard copy machines that some of these pirates use. One store (a tip from one musician) in California had their own duplication operation at a back room of the store. We also found out similar store operations in Utah and Washington state.
Others such as Teuila Productions (Carson, California), Polynesian Flava/Wilson Edwards of San Bernardino/Long Beach and Frank Keil (Samoana Store) of Long Beach, have refine the art of piracy, in that they have redone cover graphics.
In some cases they have replaced original artwork by CD owners and replace them with their own artwork and it is often better than the original artwork done in Samoa or New Zealand.. This has made it difficult for the discerning buyer but it has also made it difficult for the rightful owners to track their products. A band in Samoa complained to this writer that he gave a couple of copies to Wilson to sell in the US, and now he found out that his CD with a complete new cover is circulated in American stores and he's not getting anything.
This is not a new problem, the American and European music industry have struggled with this for a long time. Can we learn from them? Yes and No! The global music industry have deep pockets, far reaching connections and political clout. There are laws in the USA, New Zealand and Samoa and elsewhere, but the public has to be educated. The education is simple, support our musicians by buying legal copies. More and more music will be produced by musicians when they benefit from it, and when they don't, music creation/production and quality declines. As one band leader in Samoa said "Why should we make more CDs when those guys just take one copy and make thousands and sell," He added, "When we went to America to distribute our CD, we couldn't sell any, the stores already had hundreds of (pirated copies) our CD, and they refuse to tell us who sold it to them".
Many musicians express frustration but all seem to have one hope, in that the community will eventually help them by not buying pirated copies.
It is quite clear that it is easier to persuade the public to buy legitimate copies than to stop the pirates.
FACTS: The chances of listening to a Samoan music that was illegally copied or downloaded is 1 out of 2, thats 50%.