Botswana: Sampling & Flashy Cars

I rarely encounter any copyright related news from Africa. No idea what's going on there: rampant file-sharing, any lawsuits pending, DMCA/EUCD clones raving the continent? This news article gives some insights in what's going on in Botswana. Apparently the Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) complains that some musicians are taking advantage of the lack of copyright law to reproduce the songs of other artists. The BOMU wants to see royalties paid for what sounds like a lot of sampling being done in Botswana.

This lack of copyrights may seem like heaven to some of the legal headaches artists may encounter in the US and Europe. But then, the Botswana artists have to cope with the same troubles as their foreign counterparts. According to BOMU:

"They do not give themselves time to rest as they perform Sunday to Sunday. They become stressed and seek solace in drinking alcohol. [...] We also want to encourage artists to invest rather than buy flashy cars that depreciate."