"A Question of Fairness in Music: Onesimus vs Merchah"
In a turn of events that's left young Malawian artist Merchah disturbed and disappointed,
his song "Merchah KOSO" was removed from YouTube due to a copyright removal request.
The request, issued by Melodia PTY Ltd on behalf of artist Onesimus,
claimed the use of the beat "running mate by onesimus" infringed on copyright.
Merchah received a copyright strike on his channel as a result.
Merchah recounts the situation on Facebook, expressing his frustration over the handling of the issue.
He explains that he and his producer, Chawabeats, used the KOSO beat – a common practice when composing songs using YouTube beat mixes.
Merchah points out that the same instrumental was used by other notable artists like
Takura from Zimbabwe and Yo Maps from Zambia for their respective songs.
The twist came when, on September 25th, Merchah discovered that Onesimus had released a song using the same beat.
Despite knowing both artists had sourced the beat from the same place,
Onesimus's team requested the removal of Merchah's song from YouTube.
Merchah questions the necessity of a takedown request,
suggesting a more mature and direct conversation could have resolved the issue.
According to the YouTube email, the removal was based on applicable copyright law.
Merchah now faces a copyright strike on his channel,
warning him to avoid using copyrighted content without permission to prevent further action,
including potential channel termination.
The incident highlights the complexities of copyright in music production,
especially for up-and-coming artists navigating the use of shared beats and instrumentals.
Merchah's experience raises questions about fairness and communication in resolving such disputes,
particularly when both parties have used the same publicly available content.
How do you think situations like this should be handled in the music industry?
by Alvin G Ajussah
