While on a recent business trip to Spain I was appalled by the fact that in two of the Ukrainian stores I visited I could not find one piece of licensed Ukrainian music. The only Ukrainian music I found was one CD of VV collection on CD in MP3 format, and that I am 100% certain was pirated music. The rest was Russian, and for the most part it was not even top quality contemporary Russian music. I hope to follow up on this in a more detailed article in the next day or two.
In short, even those who claim to be Ukrainian in countries like Spain, don't seem to give a damn about their own culture but rather what they think will sell! But I together with others will be working on changing this. It won't be easy, but at least someone has to make the effort.
Everything is constantly in flux, from the music we listen to, to the politics and society around us. uaMuzik is a reflection on Ukrainian music, politics, society, the food I create and technologies.
What a shame that such uncultured vultures are getting away with piracy.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that the Ukrainian government recently passed a law protecting intellectual property. I know it's naive to expect it to kick in immediately, or even for the authorities to bother about it ... but aren't the artists themselves interested in pressing the government to enforce the law on matters that directly affect them?
A Canadian group of independent artists recently formed to fight the recording industry's monopoly in North America. The monopolists are an easily identified group and yes, they have financial clout ... but they are also at an ideological disadvantage. Ditto the distributors of pirated Ukrainian music in Spain.
I know it's a tough go, but for starters, could a Ukrainian artists' consortium not work together to at least raise public awareness of the shoddy quality of pirated CDs?
Pawlina,
ReplyDeleteIt was surprising to me that these discs were in "Ukrainian" stores, one of which was Meest!
Still working on something that is more of a commentary on this issue. Just haven't had the time. In from Spain Sunday night, out to L'viv on Tuesday night, only to get on a train about 8 hours after I arrived.
That's astounding!All the more evidence of an acute need for artists to organize ... and educate the public as well as "instututions" that take such a cavalier attitude towards quality inventory.
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