Nigerians Declare War on Music Piracy

The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), a sizable coalition of musicans and Nigerian industry heavyweights, have announced a country-wide anti-piracy campaign that seeks to flood the nation's TV sets with songs aimed against the illegal download or purchase of music, and penned by some of the nation's biggest stars.

COSON's press release on the campaign lists 2face Idibia, Sunny Neji, Ruggedman, Kefee, Djinee, Baba Dee, MI, Mr. Kool, H Man, Bracket, YQ, and Freewindz as contributors to the project, though they have yet to publicize any particular tracks.

Nigerian piracy has long been a drain on the music industry's capital, but it has been a particularly hot-button issue since the beginning of the month, when Mr. Tony Onwujekw, a.k.a. "Alaba King of Pirates" was officially taken to court over accusations that would make him the leader of Nigeria's widest and most damaging piracy cabal.

The campaign, then, comes at a propitious time for the country's music industry. In the words of COSON's Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, "Nigerian artistes have talked for too long. The time for talk is over. We have declared war on the pirates and the battle is on. We have taken the fight to them in the air, on the ground, in the courts of law, at the ports, in market places and everywhere. For too long Nigerian artistes have run from pirates and some were indeed cowed into paying pirates 'protection' money so that their works would not be pirated. From now on, pirates must run from Nigerian artistes and the pirates will find no place to hide."