Bisade Ologunde, better known as Lagbaja has said the reason he is still relevant in the music industry is because he was strict with the business side of his music.
The masked singer made this known while giving his view on intellectual property rights viz-a-viz the scourge of piracy bedeviling the music sector, during the second day of the COSON week which held last Monday at the Sheraton Hotel and Suites, Ikeja, Lagos.
Themed Intellectual Property rights in the Digital Economy, Lagbaja, in his opening submission on the panel, said: “Bill Gates is the richest man in the world because he created the software used by computers, and until recently did not build computers, only writing the software programs that run the computers. Unfortunately, in our country, we do not respect the intellectual property rights of people.” At present, the punishment for pirating the creative work of someone is a paltry fine which is nothing more than a pat on the back.”
Decrying the absence of stringent punishment to serve as a deterrent to those who break copyright laws, he said, “Even seven million naira is a small fine. When you ask a pirate to pay a fifty million or a hundred million naira fine, he will think twice about breaking the law. ”
Lagbaja lent his voice to the cry of Nigerian entertainers against the scourge of piracy, and the Alaba Boys, saying; “When you hear Happy Birthday to you played on radio, or a public place, someone gets paid. That someone is the person who wrote the song”. In the same vein, “Seventy years after my death, my heirs have the right to enjoy the royalties from my work should anyone decide to use my song as their movie soundtrack.”
Lagbaja who was also decried the unserious attitude of musicians to matters that concern them said, “My colleagues in the industry who need this knowledge are not here, but will show up for the red carpet event, which they feel is more important. Lagbaja is happening today because I learnt to take care of the business side.”
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