CISAC: Music royalty collection in Africa has grown

The report, which was released on 15 November, shows that royalty collection in Africa amounted to €67m of the global collection revenue in 2016, which is a 9.5% increase from the €61m in the previous year. Music royalties contributed €59m with a growth of 11.1%. 

The main sources of royalty collection included TV and radio (€26m), followed by live and background music (€16m), digital sales (€11m), private copying (€6m), CD and video (€1m) as well other revenue streams (€1m).

Digital sales experienced the highest growth of 217% since 2012. “Digital collections have grown in Algeria, Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Nigeria and Togo. Private copying has been a success thanks to efforts in Algeria with an increase of 74.5% or from €3.2m in 2012 to €5.7m in 2016,” the report reads.

South Africa accounted for 45% of the total collection revenue on the continent, followed by Algeria with 34%. South Africa’s collection revenue in the local currency totalled to R491m ($35m) made from TV & radio (63.4%), live & background music (27.2%) and reprography (10.2%). CD and video sales did not increased since 2012.

In a survey of 22 CISAC member countries from Africa, it was found that 1 031 out of 2 580 radio broadcasters were licensed to pay royalties. During a meeting of CISAC’s 31 African members in Rwanda in June, CISAC director-general Gadi Oron said: “Overall, we have seen growth in collections in Africa over the past ten years. We are on the right track but there is an enormous amount of work still to do.

“First, we want to further improve efficiency of collections. We also need solid copyright laws that are efficiently enforced. This is a major challenge in a world where music users, media services and others so often do not appreciate the value of creativity or recognise the rights of the creator,” Oron said .

They key highlights of the report indicate that “Europe continued to lead the way in 2016 with 56.8% of collections".

"In the Asia-Pacific and Australasia, collections increased 10.3% to €1m351m. Collections in Latin America and the Caribbean rose by 1.3% to €557m,” the report said.