Alison Cope has endured a tough last 21 months. On September 21st 2013 her son Joshua Ribera (known in the music industry as Depzman) was stabbed to death at a memorial party held for another murdered rapper known as âShamzâ in Selly Oak, a suburb of Birmingham.
Six months on, Alison left her job working in a hospital as the working environment kept taking her back to that fateful night her son was killed. She has also split with her husband since the incident and now lives at home on her own.
If that wasnât enough, she has also been forced to pay bedroom tax on Joshuaâs vacated room, which she understandably doesnât want to fill, and without the support of her husband this has led her to potentially stark financial difficulties in the future.
The council has paid Alison Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) to help her with this burden but this can only be paid on a short term basis. As the arrears increase, the housing association will have to act soon and this means there is a possibility she could be evicted from her home in the near future.
After a night of considering the situation she was in a couple of months back, Alison decided to take some action.
Joshuaâs music was filled with lyrics that demonstrated one of his career aims was to make sure his Mum was ok and YouTube channels have certainly benefited financially through the increased popularity of his videos online since his passing. Some videos have hit well over one million views. Would they be able to help share some of these generated funds?
The tricky part of this idea is that revenue raised from YouTube is rarely, if ever, shared with artists. Generally there tends to be an unspoken trade off in that the artist can use the channelâs popularity to reach a wider audience via a music video or freestyle and in turn the channel is entitled to keep any revenue made as they have aided in some way to boost the artistâs career.
Alison understands that Joshua would have realised this this when he made the decision to put out music videos and freestyles on different YouTube channels although Alison does mention that legally she never gave any written consent for him to appear.
The problem here is pretty clear then. Joshua Ribera is no longer around to benefit from the increased views of his footage online. The trade-off mentioned previously falls down as there is no longer a career that can benefit from the huge views on his footage.
Evidently, since his death, some people are still benefiting financially from this arrangement.
Surely an exception could be made in a case such as this and arrangements come to that benefit all parties including helping the bereaved out of a tricky situation?
Alison therefore contacted a range of media companies asking to see the reports into the statistics of the videos since her sonâs death and the amount of money generated to see whether a constructive agreement could be made regarding the funds. Whether through providing help towards her financial situation as her son would have wanted or through a donation to the charity set up in Joshuaâs name âOne Loveâ that would help benefit others.
Alison has contacted all of the relevant media companies and settlements have been made or meetings arranged with Lord of the Mics, JDZ Media, Whoâs The Boss and SBTV. Most of them were prompt with their return correspondence and positive discussions have taken place, which Alison is more than happy with.
Unfortunately at the time of writing, Alison is having difficulties communicating with P110 Media. P110 Media appear to be unwilling for Alison to see the reports regarding views and income on their Depzman videos since September 2013 and regularly read and subsequently fail to respond to her questions and messages.
Eventually an arrangement was made to meet for coffee but a representative of P110 Media failed to turn up. Grime Forum emailed P110 on Monday asking them to clarify their position, but as of Thursday morning no response has been received.
It is disappointing to see such a lack of response from P110 Media, the one media channel who Alison felt she would have no problems dealing with due to their close relationship with Joshua while he was alive. P110 Media throughout her attempts to contact them, have preferred to talk the issue out with associates of Joshua, rather than speak to Alison directly which has further disappointed her.
The question here to ask ourselves as an industry is what do we do when an individual within our scene dies? Do the unwritten rules remain the same or should we rally around to help the deceasedâs family in exceptions such as this? What should happen to money generated when views and revenue rises for independent Youtube channels as a result of someoneâs death? Should there be a moral obligation to see what can be done even if money generated is shared? Clearly the majority of media channels that cover grime feel that some help, whatever it ends up being, should be offered and it is pleasing to see five of the six channels Alison contacted replying.
In regards to P110 Media anyone who reads this article can make their own minds up. Ultimately any decision they make regarding this issue rests with them and at this stage they can do as they choose. Surely it would benefit everyone, and be in the best interests of P110 Media to arrange to meet Alison Cope again, follow through with that meeting and discuss the issue in a calm manner. That isnât too much to ask is it?
When we spoke to Alison she wanted to add that âThere is a lot I could say but most of it is contained within the interview I did with Despa from StayFresh. I would want to say I adored Josh and life without him is hard enough without additional challenges but in everything I do, I do for him and for what he wanted so I will always stand up for what I believe. I hope people see that if I had been given more support it wouldnât have come to this. This is about Josh and myself, Depz and the music industry but also for every artist that is doing it for their family and future because if they were to die some music channels will not support the families left behind or even respect questions asked. I am a mum whose son has been murdered not someone to be ignored just because you donât like what I am askingâ
Grime Forum has pledged a donation agreeable with Alison Cope to the next âOne Loveâ charity event having written this article.
Watch Alisonâs interview with Despa from StayFresh in his âMeet The Artistsâ BE83 special here.
Alison is currently meeting with Birmingham City Council to agree a date for another charity event for âOne Loveâ after the successful football event at Birminghamâs football stadium in 2014.
In terms of further helping Alison out as an individual, any and all help in regards helping her organise events for the charity in Joshua Ribera/Depzmanâs name âOne Loveâ would be greatly appreciated. You can contact her on Twitter at @Ali_Cope and help to donate to a future Crowd Funder for a charity event. All money donated will help towards planning and health and safety to present to the council to make the event a success.
If an organisation would like to help regarding being the main sponsor, please donât hesitate to get in touch via email at [email protected]Â
âOne Loveâ funds are held in a CIC (Community Interest Account) to be spent on events and promotions to help reach young people and help them realise there are other choices.
Alison also spends a lot of time speaking to hundreds of children a week to promote her three values through âhaving mannersâ, âshowing loveâ and âworking hardâ. The charity will be applying for lottery funding in future to help it continue to make a difference to hundreds of children and help them choose a better path.Â