Things are not quite well between dancehall artiste Rafiki Mazimpaka, popularly known as Coga Style and renowned music producer Jean-Paul Gatsinda, aka Jay P, after the latter reported the singer’s recent release ‘Igikobwa’ remix following the duo’s ownership disputes on the song. When Swiss-based Brodahood Records, to which Rafiki is now signed, uploaded the song remix on its YouTube channel last week, producer Jay P requested YouTube to pull it off their platform with immediate effect after the producer disagreed with the singer over the song ownership. The New Times understands that the producer Jay P, who produced the original version of ‘Igikobwa’ 11 years ago, wanted Rwf500,000 from Rafiki as a share of ownership of the song, but Rafiki refused to pay the money ‘because it has not sold anything yet’ and instead submitted a complaint to Rwanda Music Federation on Sunday, October 4, to stop the producer from putting him into losses. “Jay P and I had worked together on many of my music projects since we started working together 11 years ago and I paid him all due expenses for the production of all my songs,” “I don’t owe him anything but I don’t know what he exactly wants from me to the extent that he would report my song to be banned on YouTube. I hope the music federation will fix the issue,” Rafiki told this newspaper on Sunday, October 3. The singer, however, insists Jay P does not have any rights on his songs, because he did not sign any contract to do music under the producer’s management during the time they spent working together. “I don’t have any problem with Jay P, and I was surprised by the move he made to ban the distribution of my song on YouTube. I don’t know the kind of ownership he wants from the song. I would be making revenues out of the songs via different digital distribution platforms, but he is putting me into losses instead,” he said. However, producer Jay P said that he decided to report the song to YouTube to pull it down, because Rafiki did not want to listen to him to discuss a mutual agreement on the song ownership, yet the producer helped him in the production of his songs until he became a popular artist. “Rafiki wants to earn 100 per cent copyrights on the song. I tried to speak to him but he did not understand me, yet I have the right to the song. I had to report the song, whether original or a remix, to pull it down until the issue is solved,” said the producer. He noted that Rafiki should instead be grateful because he played a big part in making him become the musician he is today. “I am the one behind the music composition of many of his songs. I am also the one who did the beats for his songs and he didn’t pay for that because I was helping him to push his music. He only paid for the studio time,” “So, the song ‘Igikobwa’, like other songs of Rafiki that I contributed to, is a property of both of us, not Rafiki alone and each of us should have a certain percentage of copyright on it,” he added. Speaking on the issue, Jean de Dieu Tuyisenge, the President of Rwanda Music Federation, said they received Rafiki’s complaint on Saturday and that they are set to hear from both sides on Thursday, October 8, and find a fair solution to the issue. “When we informed Jay P about Rafiki’s complaint, he told us that he contributed to the songs and that his right to the song should be recognized. We are planning a meeting with them to end the dispute among them,” Tuyisenge said. According to the intellectual property law, anyone who contributes to the song, the producer included, has a certain part in the song ownership. Tuyisenge argues that reporting a song to YouTube would have been the last option for producer Jay P only if he and Rafiki did not reach an agreement about the ownership rights.
