Pirates Milking King Ayisoba

News of record labels and musicians being hit by pirates making illegal sale of their works is very irritating and alarming off late.

Millions of cedis are potentially at stake, and the pirates are not happy to have their cash flow cut off so now they have coined a new way of pirating. Now they have a different picture (s) of the artiste on the audiocassette or CD and different inscription on the inlay of the cassette or CD.

This was the case when a fan of King Ayisoba wanted a copy of his album and noticed their new ways.

Panji said, "The good Samaritan who reported the matter to the police said he heard of King Ayisoba's latest song, 'I Want To See My Father' being played but he noticed that the cassette being offered him did not bear the image of him but rather a different artiste".

On the 1st of July, 2006, over three hundred copies of King Ayisoba's illegally dubbed songs onto cassettes and being sold at the Sunyani lorry station at the end of the Kumasi race course were confiscated by a team of police officers who had been tipped off by the members of the public.

Although the culprits had managed to flee by the time the officers arrived on the scene, the police officers headed by Sgt. Ansah are determined to arrest the pirates and bring them to justice.

Panji Anoff, CEO of Pidgen Music, King Ayisoba's record label said, "The success of any album has its downsides".

"To me personally piracy is not a big issue. If the right laws are implemented that people need to appreciate someone's music. Radio stations don't value artistes and there are so many flaws in GAMUGRAM".

King Ayisoba's, 'Modern Ghanaians' is the fastest selling cassette by an artiste from the Northern part of Ghana. The albums popularity started in Bolgatanga where the artiste is from, but has spread through the other regions like harmattann bushfire. Singing in English, Twi, Frafra, King Ayisoba's struck a chord with the Ghanaian audience and has embraced his 2-string traditional guitar (Kolgo) with great passion.

By Nii Atakora Mensah, Ghana Music.com