Shatta Wale’s New Love of Performing Samini’s Songs at Concerts | Is This Not Copyright Infringement?

I am not a copyright expert but surely, even those without legal brains can clearly see that a legal case can spring out of an artiste performing the songs of another artiste, without express permission or cover royalties having been paid—especially at concerts where he has taken money from the organizers to perform.

Since this is happening in Ghana, no one may get sued and also, because it is Shatta Wale doing it to Samini’s songs, any attempt by the latter to seek redress in court or to protect his intellectual property from such infringement would possibly be met with all manner of fans’ attack.

But the fact remains that; in law and even when perched against common sense, you cannot take money from an event organizer to perform—and while out there, just decide to perform the song(s) of another artiste without permission or without the event organisers paying the artiste the required fees for the cover. That is a clear violation of the other artiste’s copyright and a slap in the face of the copyright legislation.

Interestingly, Shatta Wale has done this twice or so and no one including MUSIGA or the various bodies which seek to protect the works of Ghanaian artistes has called him to order—or brought to his attention that his actions are in breach of the law.

Under the fair usage doctrine of the US Copyright Law (affirmed by the US Supreme Court) which will be persuasive in the Ghanaian jurisdiction, you do not need a permission to perform a parody, but surely, what Shatta Wale is doing with Samini’s song in the video below is far from a parody. It is a pure copyright infringement and disrespect to the intellectual property of another artiste.

If one wants to dig deeper into the recent Shatta Wale’s performance of Samini’s song(s), the organizers of the various concerts where he performed the songs would be legally obliged to pay Samini some royalties for the performance by Shatta Wale, else they will also be liable—and Samini can take them all on.

It may come as fun to Shatta Wale and his fans but what he is doing is a clear breach of the laws that protect the works of musicians, including his own works. I wonder what he will do if another person decides to put his songs on a CD and sell them—or decides to perform his songs at a concert.

Maybe Shatta Wale loves to be sued for actions that can be avoided by even the dumbest person on earth…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m8NE-tOY6E