Music Piracy and the Nigerian Public: A Review of Enugu Urban Position

Piracy is the copying and distribution of recordings of a piece of music for which the rightful owners
(composer, recording artist or copyright holding record company) did not give consent. Definitely it is
not a natural occurrence but a deliberate misappropriation of the fruit of another man’s labour
(Adewopo, [1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org>wiki [2]. This paper examines the magnitude of the crime
“piracy” in the Eastern part of Nigeria especially in their markets. It also revealed the damaging effects
it has on the intellectual property rights of the individuals concerned. A 20 – item questionnaire was
designed, distributed, collected and analysed. The effect revealed that it had far reaching effect
consequences on the individuals as well as the government of our country. Several strategies that will
help in combating piracy which include the institution of civil lawsuits, improvement of legislature,
public relations/enlightenment etc. among others were suggested.