Music and copyright in the Egyptian digital era

With millions of downloadable songs, shareable files and free streaming music, the Egyptian musical scene is challenged with the copyright prospects as the impacts of the digital revolution loom.

Twenty -three per cent of listeners aged between 16 and 64 years old got their music via stream-ripping, based on a global study in 2019 [1]. Stream ripping is the latest evolving illegal downloadable music which involves ripping a track from a streaming platform before converting it into a downloadable file. Users can further use this illegal music offline on their devices for as long as they want. Then a user can access it without having to go back to the streaming service. Having such a file also means you can easily share it between other devices or users.

Music copyright and royalties in Egypt

Wish such a scary percentage, the percentage is higher in the Middle East. Media piracy is especially prevalent in Egypt, where 76 per cent of consumers admitted to pirating content more than once a week as of February 2017 [2]. Stream ripping is very prevalent in the Middle East as users get free access to streaming platforms such YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Music, Spotify, and various sports streaming services that offer music and video online.

According to a survey published in 2019, 34 000 Internet users from around the world found that 23 per cent of listeners use illegal stream-ripping sites [3]. Copyright infringement is also a more common practice among Gen Z consumers than total internet users, with 38 per cent getting their music this way compared to 27 per cent of the total sample.

These illegal acts create a major blow for the whole music industry in Egypt where artists and record companies lose around 60 million each year to music piracy [4]. In the last ten years, drastic changes happened to the music industry in Egypt where the musical albums have been reduced to 40 albums only instead of 500 albums which were produced annually. In addition, numerous production companies closed doors. Out of 140 companies, only five survived this major loss.

In his latest interview, Mohsen Gaber, the CEO of Alem fan (The artist world) says that this musical piracy started in 2000 in many countries but laws in Egypt did not prevent it from growing [5]. As a music producer, Gaber calculated the loss of downloading a musical album. He said that in a recently released album of a booming star, 40 000 downloads took place from a certain click to an illegal website that leaked the album on the very same day of its release. “We found out that such piracy is equal to 40 000 CDs. In addition, users not only download a single song but they download a whole album that may have more than 10 songs, added Gaber in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper, Akhbar ElYoum.

Gaber and many music producers in Egypt exert much effort in shutting down illegal websites by suing them legally to protect their intellectual copyrights and have succeeded in doing this, at least for their own albums. However, they stress the need for the Egyptian government to step forward in order to protect the rights of the composers, singers and producers.

In 1972, Egypt saw a similar music piracy but on a different level. At that time, many musical companies began to copy cassettes with old songs and release them in markets at a lower price than the original. When markets were flooded with these cassettes, the Arabic icon and composer Mohamed Abdel-Wahab addressed the president to stop such damage for the industry. Indeed, the president ordered the establishment of the Artistic Copyrights Company which reserve and protect the rights of the artists, the composers, the producers, the songwriters on every level of the industry.

Music infringements in the digital media

According to the Egyptian music syndicate, it is estimated that 70 per cent of the total music income in Egypt goes to internet piracy whereas only 30 per cent goes to the industry [5]. Many musicians refer also that the reason behind this problem is the petty amount of money being fined to any illegal company or distributor. According to Medhat Eladl, the head of the Composers and Lyricists society, when the fine of piracy is calculated to be less than $500, it actually encourages more people to do this unlawful act because they are simply destroying a million-dollar industry while gaining billions of pounds [5].

Back in the day, producers and distributors thought that the music album had to be flawless. This is no longer the case with the streaming market today. Singers used to work on their albums for years so that they can produce this single perfect album along with the musicians. Nowadays as consumers habit changed dramatically due to digital technologies, social media and online music streaming services made the industry change entirely to new single hits that the singers create to be present on social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other streaming platforms such as Spotify, Deezer, Google Play Music and Anghami.

It is now plausible to see stars such as Mohamed Mounir, Angham and Mostafa Amar hitting the social platforms to reach a wider audience. Anghami makes its money through the ads that appear between the content segments besides the monthly subscription. In an interview with Al-Ahram Online newspaper, Reem Tarek, the Content Promotion Manager in Egypt and North Africa at Anghami said the more the song is listened to, the more the artist is paid, etc. [6].

It is the playlist that nowadays has the magic wheel to stir aspiring singers. It is a fundamental aspect of today’s sound marketing strategies. According to the Anghami website, aspiring singers may skyrocket thanks to good playlist placement because it gives them visibility and their songs go viral very quickly.

The explosion of songs and shareable music in Egypt through peer-to-peer technology has provoked a major shock for the music industry material to a great extent to the matter that might question their operating companies. The internet has made it all possible for every individual to listen to the songs they like via peer to peer sharing services that are available in the cloud sharing devices like Napster, My Space and online audio platforms like Spotify, Deezer, Anghami and Apple Music.

Digital commons platforms that ensure Intellectual property

Spotify was made available in Egypt and other Arab countries in 2019 and was actually pipped to the post by Deezer, which launched in the Middle East a month earlier. However, both Spotify and Deezer are up against the region’s resigning music stream online platform, Anghami.

Anghami is the oldest and the reigning music streaming platform in the Middle East. It is based on the variety of services it tailors its Arabic customers but at the same time, it cares about the singers and the revenues for the musicians. In Anghami, the Lebanese 10-year-old mobile streaming platform, one can pay half a dollar and have a premium service or you can pay $2.50 and have a premium service. Different services are catered for each subscription

Jumping from piracy to full payment, people in the Middle East are not fully ready to pay for the music they listen to. This is why the Lebanese company, Anghami was the first company that educated the listeners that you have to suddenly pay for a regular subscription to maintain music [7].

Protection of cultural intellectual copyrights in Egypt

With the creative industry entering the millennium, creative ways had to be made to stop music piracy and save the intellectual copyrights that have been disrupted dramatically by the digital revolution. In Egypt where matters are getting worse, the industry is healing nowadays to find new ways to compensate their loss but with the support and help of both governmental and non-governmental interference to save the industry.

The role of the musical societies and the Ministry of culture to ensure the IP

Many attempts were made in recent years to save the music copyrights industry in Egypt. However, they were mainly independent attempts made by distributors, musicians, composers and singers. According to the Egyptian Intellectual Property Law 82 of 1992, copyright protection for musical recordings is given for 50 years if owned by a company, and 50 years after the death of the author if owned by an individual [8]. As mentioned earlier, the violations to such copyright are subject to a fine ranging between LE5 000 ($300) and LE10 000 and sometimes a month long imprisonment.

However, the fine is too low as explained by Hany Shaker, the head of the Egyptian Music Syndicate in an interview last February to ElMal newspaper [9]. Shaker also added that he is working with the ministry of culture to make sure that all musicians should get their legal digital incomes and their revenues from all online streaming platforms. “We will do our best to save every musician right”, he added [9].

Resources and citations:

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/609114/music-copyright-infringement-by-age/
[2] https://fount.aucegypt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1748&context=etds
[3] https://itif.org/publications/2020/02/07/22-years-after-dmca-online-piracy-still-widespread-problem
[4] https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/79765.
[5] https://bit.ly/3kczt2f
[6] https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsPrint/402454.aspx
[7] https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/anghami-with-over-1m-paying-users-doesnt-feel-threatened-by-spotify-in-the-middle-east/
[8] http://www.unesco.org/culture/pdf/egypt_cp_en
[9] https://bit.ly/3mS3rKM