The Monday night just got salty after Tivo Shikapwasha the president of Zambian Music put out a statement pointing at a certain Zambian top notch producer for having a tendency sampling beats from foreign musicians.
He Wrote;
I just heard a song by what is supposed to be produced by one of Zambia’s “Big Producers” I won’t speak on the quality of this production as I respect differences in opinion
. I will however speak on the Violation of intellectual property which i picked up on in his song. When I heard the Song as it opens, the chords instantly sound like Ushers Matrimony… so I was like hmmmm…. I gave it a pass as some people are influenced or inspired by different Chord Progressions and produce something similar without it being a violation of intellectual property. So I gave the song a chance. By the time the song got to the Chorus the Melody of the featured artist was exactly as Ushers melody in “Matrimony”… clearly our “big Producer” had stolen from Usher and his collaborating producers and made a “Zambianized” version of Matrimony. It turns out our “Big Producer” has made a habit of stealing Ideas and repackaging them for the Zambian Market, I first picked up on a song that our “Big Producer” produced for a very well established artist in which he ripped the very famous chord structure and melody to Marvin Gayes “Sexual Healing”. This to me is sad, and if i’m to be honest this so called “Big Producer” isn’t the only culprit they are others who infringe on other artists rights in the name of Sampling… As Musicians we want a sound enabling environment in which our intellectual property is protected so we can maximize on the commercial value of our work through regulatory processes, and yet we have some among us violating intellectual property belonging to other creatives. What’s worse is the insult this creates towards the consumers that buy the music believing that this great art is original when indeed it’s as good as selling a fake Gucci bag to an unsuspecting customer and not declaring that it is an imitation. Many people have asked me how are we not progressing internationally in the way that we should.
With a couple of shots on the comment section, people justifying and pointing out KB Killa Beats as the victim of the incidence, music fans later grab a copy of Usher’s release called – Matrimony and KB’s recent release called – My Diary 11 to put the record on a comparison scale.
Check out both records below and leave your opinion on our Facebook chat forum.
1. KB – My Diary 11
2. Wale – Matrimony feat. Usher
