Skull and bones : Piracy sinking entertainment industry

Pashto film and music producers unhappy with copyright violations.

PESHAWAR: When hours of blood, sweat and tears are taken from under their noses by pirates, Pashto film and music producers’ levels of motivation to produce quality content dwindles. It is a similar story with artists who are losing the will to sing their hearts out or produce award-winning performances.

“The work of producers is being copied and freely distributed by hundreds of CD centres in the city with no benefits for the producers,” says Muzafar Khan, a Pashto film producer and the owner of Musafar Music Centre. “There is no law; violators number in the thousands,” he tells The Express Tribune at a protest organised by Pak-Picture Association on Sher Shah Suri Road.

The protesters urged the government to close down shops that upload their productions into mobile memory cards or sell pirated CDs.

“This is against our rights,” said Abdur Rahim, the president of Pak-Pictures Association. “Our economic conditions have worsened. Artists have stopped producing music as they spend big money on a single production which is then available for a few rupees in the market”.

The famous Odeon and Mehran music centres, among others, were the leading producers and sponsors of the musicians for decades. However, even they have stopped producing music.

These centres will not only produce music, but also distribute the work of artists to parts of Pakistan and other countries like Afghanistan. As a result, artists were once flourishing on the professional and financial fronts.

The artists urged the government to take strong action against elements producing movies and music against the local culture. “Even those artists and producers who are doing good work are being accused of distorting culture,” said Farhad Khan, general secretary of the association.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd,  2015.