Accra, Aug. 2, GNA - Alhaji Sidiku Buari, President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), on Monday said plans were under way to provide all African artistes with an effective continent-wide marketing platform to sell their works.

In a release issued to the GNA at the end of a three-day conference on "Corporate Governance' held in Nairobi, Kenya, Alhaji Buari said; "as we set out to take advantage of this new venture, we must be aware of piracy in the market". He, therefore, urged the Musicians to become watchdogs for their own works and that of their fellow countrymen. The conference was organised by the International Conference of Copyright Societies (CISAC) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Alhaji Buari urged the Musicians on the Continent to extend the distribution of their clips to both Anglophone and Francophone African countries instead of limiting their distribution within their various home countries. "This will make it possible for us to capture enough marketing grounds in our own way in Africa and the world at large," he said.

Alhaji Buari said it was unfortunate that copyright fees due Africa and collected from the world music market between 1997 and 1999 amounted to only 28 million dollars, "which is a mere 0.05 per cent of the global music copyright fee collection. "Yet Africa is known to be the cradle of renowned artistes in the various artistic fields," he said. The MUSIGA President said the major royalty collecting societies in Africa expressed their readiness to make the new venture work.

Commenting on the plight of Musicians, Alhaji Buari said the owners of intellectual property, who spent sleepless nights working hard to produce good artistic works to bring happiness into other people's home often died as paupers. He, therefore, advocated for the need to put in place a proactive legal framework that would protect intellectual property for the right owners to enjoy "the fruit of their labour".