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Article snippet: LAGOS, Nigeria — Forcing a smile, Seyi Shay, a music star in Nigeria, stood for hours under the hot lights of a film studio to record a video. Three changes of clothes, two wigs and multiple touch-ups later, she was still at it, singing snippets of the song over and over. “More energy,” a producer called out from behind a camera inches from her face. “How am I supposed to be happy? It’s not a happy song,” Ms. Shay sighed into the lens. “A little more attitude,” the producer said. “Attitude?” Ms. Shay asked. “Yes. Sassy, sexy, all that.” Across town, her painstaking efforts to build a following over the years were paying off — for someone else. At a sewer-side market, dozens of customers lined up with their smartphones and flash drives, eagerly handing over cash to pirates with laptops to load up on Ms. Shay’s songs. She earned nothing from the sales. “Out here, nobody cares about the rules,” Ms. Shay said. “Everything is kind of cowboy.” Artists across the world battle illegal sales of their work. But Nigeria’s piracy problem is so ingrained that music thieves worry about rip-offs of their rip-offs, slapping warning labels on pirated CDs to insist that “lending is not allowed.” In Lagos, Africa’s biggest city, legitimate music stores are rare, streaming services haven’t caught on and fans are flocking to markets like Computer Village, with its rows of yellow umbrellas shading young men selling illegal downloads. Throughout the city, thousands of pirated CDs are c... Link to the full article to read more