Kenyan afro-pop music group Sauti Sol member Bien Aime has reacted to the reports that their YouTube channel has lost over 2,000 subscribers following the row between them and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition over the use of their song.
Bien took to his Instagram account blast those who unsubscribed from their channel and encourage anyone else who wished to unsubscribe to go ahead.
“Time will reveal. Those who want to disembark to do so now. They have arrived at their stage,” Bien wrote.
Bien’s post came after Sauti Sol shared a post to enlighten the public about intellectual property rights following a backlash from social media.
"In the past few days, there has been a lot of disinformation online and it is clear that majority of people are uninformed about intellectual property rights," the message read.
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Sauti Sol threatened to take legal action against Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition for using their hit song Extravaganza during the event in which Raila Odinga unveiled Martha Karua as his running mate.
ODM party responded to Sauti Sol explaining that in using their song on that occasion was to show their love for the group and for their work.
The Kenya Copyrights Board KECOBO later weighed in on the matter and said public performance license does not allow the use of sound recording as a soundtrack with visual images in a film, video, television show, commercial or other audio-visual productions.
The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) CEO Ezekiel Mutua differed with KECOBO on the matter and clarified that MCSK licensed Raila’s presidential team to use musical works in their campaigns according to the Copyright Law and gazetted tariffs.
He faulted KECOBO for causing confusion on the matter
“We wish to clarify that we licensed the Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign for use of musical works in their campaigns as per the Copyright Law and gazetted tariffs. We are therefore shocked to see the confusion being caused by KECOBO over this matter,” Mutua said.