Musicians Union of Malawi (Mum) on Tuesday had an audience with Minister of Sports and Culture Grace Chiumia.
Mum President Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango confirmed meeting the minister on Wednesday where he said they discussed some of the challenges facing the creative industry but also seek an audience with President Peter Mutharika.
“It was a fruitful meeting; there were several issues we discussed from the rehabilitation of the Blantyre Cultural Centre, Copyright Bill and the National Arts Heritage Council among others,” said Mhango.
Reverend Mhango said the creative industry has been struggling because of several challenges which include the Copyright Bill which he observed was being dragged.
“As musicians piracy is killing us because our copyright law is old and the fines are just very low but now we have a revised Copyright Bill which is not coming out and we felt we needed to push with the minister who has assured us that she will push the bill,” he said adding that so far there is little progress on the Copyright Bill.
Mhango said they appreciate what the government has done in among others allocating them some money for the creative industry in the budget but they still feel the most vital thing is the Copyright bill.
He said the creative industry is suffering and that the Copyright bill provides for enhanced fines and penalties for pirates.
“This Copyright bill will reduce levels of piracy and provide for compensatory mechanism among others. This is a lifeline for musicians in this digital era. There is a lot in it,” he said.
Apart from the Copyright Bill, Mhango also said Mum wants the government to assist them with space at the Kamuzu Institute for Sports where they could be conducting music training for the youths.
“We want to develop talent and we feel one of the ways is to conduct trainings and so we felt Kamuzu Institute for Sports hall would be ideal. So the minister said she will be coming back to us,” said Mhango.
He also said that they raised the issue of promoters bringing different artists in the country without consulting the music body.
“At the moment there is no sanity, every promoter just works up and thinks of bringing international artists. So what we are saying is that as Mum we need to be given those powers to stop shows that do not follow procedures. There is a lot of insanity happening so we want to control and the minister was in agreement,” he said.
Mhango said as a body they have in the past also held discussions with previous ministers and also sought an audience with the president.
“We want to have an audience with the president and all our attempts in the past have failed but we have not sat back, we still seek that audience and we have asked the minister to help us,” he said.
Chiumia on Wednesday confirmed meeting the Mum president but could not shed more light as she was attending a funeral.
The meeting with the minister also comes barely a month after the government through Ministry of Sports and Culture said that it was under pressure to come up with a clean draft of National Arts and Heritage Council of Malawi Bill by the end of this financial year and ensure that it is tabled and passed into law by July 1 this year.
One requirement from the policy is that arts and heritage should be combined into one council to be called National Arts and Heritage Council of Malawi.
Consultation meetings are currently underway on the National Arts and Heritage Council of Malawi Bill.
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