05 Mai 2005

MANIFESTO AGAINST PIRACY IN MALI

For a few years, we see a recrudescence of piracy in Mali. The Malian artists endure this drama on line. Independently from the rare stars who have the chance to be produced abroad, the great majority lives in precariousness. Not for lack of talent, but because the pirates deprive them of the fruits of their work, their success. Nowadays, the counterfeits are put on sale the same day as the legal cassette. 9 adult dvd and cassettes out of 10 sold in the country are pirated. On the whole, the number of cassettes sold per year in Mali is estimated at 10 million. 9 million of them are pirated cassettes for which the concerned artists do not touch 1/100 of a franc.
The government reacts to this situation only by promises never fulfilled. We do not want these promises any more; we want concrete actions against the pirates. Stopping the plague is not impossible because the pirates are known. Today, just to multiply the operations of seizure in the markets will be enough to shake the network of the pirates. If the government succeeded in controlling the smuggling of textiles and cigarettes thanks to the regularity of the operations of seizure, there is no reason that this strategy does not work in the struggle against the piracy of musical works.

This situation has constrained the companies Mali K7 SA and Seydoni Mali to close their doors and to put their personnel on lay off since Wednesday March 16, 2005. Currently, tens of people depending of the employees of these two companies live in precariousness at a time when people speak about fight against poverty. This decision was difficult to take, but it is realistic because we are in suspension of payment. Piracy is the cause of a loss of earnings of several billion of F CFA (1€ = 656 F CFA or a billion F CFA = 1.524 million Euros) per annum for the economy of the country.

We, Mali K7 and Seydoni-Mali, the Malian and international artists, the producers and professionals of music, we exhort the Malian government to assume its responsibilities, to restore social justice and equity in the musical sector, to defend the rights of its artists so that music and culture remain an infallible factor of development in Mali.

To support our action, please add your name, your profession and your home country to the following
send to : pirates @ com

Philippe Berthier (MALI K7 SA / Mali), Fousseyni Traoré (Seydoni Mali / Mali), Ali Farka Touré (Artiste / Mali), Salif Keita (Artiste / Mali), Oumou Sangaré (Artiste / Mali), Habib Koité (Artiste / Mali), Amadou & Mariam (Artiste / Mali), Toumani Diabaté (Artiste / Mali), Idrissa Soumarao (Artiste / Mali), Lassy King Massassy (Artiste / Mali), Tata Pound (Artiste / Mali), Bassékou Kouyaté (Artiste / Mali), Toumani Diabaté (Artiste / Mali), Yves Wernert (Ingenieur du son / Mali), Awa Diabaté (Artiste / Mali), Issa Bagayogo (Artiste / Mali), Issa Ouattara (Artiste / Mali), Jah People Mamadou (Artiste / Mali) ...