COSON distributes 2014 royalties to Nigerian musicians

The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), pursuant to its 2014 annual general meeting, held on 16 December 2014, has distributed to its registered artistes, royalties for the year ending December 31 2014, in the total sum of N90 Million ($490,000.00). A significant increase from the amount distributed in the previous year (N50 Million- $280,000).

COSON President Tony Okoroji, explained the basis of the amount collected to be from licences and other payments from from end users of the musical works of artistes registered with it, Whilst justifiably proud of the Society's achievement in collecting the record sum and distributing same, he also looked forward to the implementation in Nigeria, of the private copy levy scheme, whereby a flat licence fee is paid by digital hardware manufacturers to account for peer-to-peer sharing. He explains in detail as follows: “As you well know, with the advent of new technology, most people no longer obtain their music or movies by buying CDs or DVDs. They down load or blue tooth and deny owners of the works significant revenue. To compensate for this loss, in many countries around the world, a small levy is charged on the gadgets used for this stealing of intellectual property. The money collected from the levy of such gadgets such as MP3s, MP4s, cellphones, memory cards, flash drives, etc, is paid through the collective management system to the artistes, writers and producers whose music, movies and books are stolen. Twenty two years ago, Nigeria became the first country in Africa to provide for the levy in our laws. Sadly, well over 22 years since the promulgation of the law, the unending protocol, red tape and bureaucracy in the Nigerian system have made it impossible for the stakeholders to benefit from this important scheme which have for several years been lubricating the creative industries in neighbouring Ghana and Burkina Faso". He however went on to express the Society's determination to move towards final implementation of the scheme in 2015, with a view to increasing the Society's distributable revenue to its members.

The generral meeting was attended by a cross-section of strategic players in the Nigerian music industry, from artistes like the veterans, Traditional Music superstar, Alhaji Dan Maraya Jos and Highlife legend, Chris Ajilo to younger legends, Majek Fashek, Laolu Akins, OJB Jezreel and Musicians Asociation President and COSON Director Baba Dee Fassassi