Musical Copyright Society Nigeria names King Sunny Adé as honorary president

Adé’s appointment was made by the society’s general council and arrives with the rollout of its music monitoring app Gocreate Africa. It is also in recognition of Ade’s past leadership capacities at the society, including as chairperson of the board.

In his new role, Adé, who succeeds the late Chief Segun Olusola, will function as ambassador plenipotentiary of the society while leveraging on his experience and network to achieve the MCSN’s goals and those of its affiliates.

Active since the 1960s, Adé, a multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and juju music pioneer, is behind a number of critically acclaimed albums and has collaborated with artists like Stevie Wonder and Cameroonian jazz great Manu Dibango. He is expected to be formally inaugurated soon.

Meanwhile, the MCSN said that the Gocreate Africa app ­– which was first announced late last year as a tool for monitoring, tracking and reporting the use of musical works and sound recordings across digital and terrestrial platforms – had undergone a series of successful test runs.

The app, which is available to all music stakeholders including artists, record labels, producers, writers, composers and publishers who are registered with the MCSN, will allow for equitable distribution of royalties to members and affiliates of the society.

MCSN CEO Mayo Ayilaran said the new developments represented a new era of dynamism for the Nigerian creative industry.