23rd March, 2012
A former artiste on Kennis Music label and one of the foremost new generation juju musicians, Yinka Best, is at war with another popular female artiste, St. Janet, over copyright.
The ‘Ko gb’oge wa’ crooner is alleging that the self-styled General Overseer of St. Bottles Cathedral a.k.a. Sinners’ Chapel, performed, recorded and put for sale, some of his songs including ‘Biri biri l’aye n yi’ and ‘Iyawo mi t’o n bo’ra,’ among others, without his permission.
Yinka told P.M.Entertainment: “I have called Janet’s attention to this many times, reminding her of the implication of using other people’s intellectual property for commercial purposes, but she has remained adamant and continued to perpetrate the criminal act with impunity.
“I registered the songs with the appropriate authorities and have already sought my lawyer’s advice on what step to take next on the issue and if care is not taken, we may end up in court soon.”
When reminded that most artistes, including him, also sing songs belonging to other musicians on stage, especially the popular ones, Yinka, who returned from a trip to the UK last week, said it is true, but not for commercial purposes.
According to him, “when you are on stage performing, you will want to play good music to impress your audience and in the process, sing songs that are popular and which are not your own composition, but not to the extent of recording them for sale.
“Janet also did same to older artistes including Pa Victor Olaiya, the late Pa I.K. Dairo and Sir Shina Peters, to mention a few. If these great artistes can condone her, I can’t because I burn the proverbial midnight candle to compose the songs she’s now feeding fat on.”
As at the time of filing this report, several calls to Janet’s MTN line were unanswered.
—Kayode Aponmade