US outfit to assist Liberian royalty collection

“À Dyà Zù-Zù is here to address some of the fundamental challenges as to why the creative industries have been unable to benefit Liberian artists financially,” the organisation's founder, Courtney Renken, said. “The overall focus of our work is to use culture to give Liberians the opportunity to rewrite their own history and to heal from past national traumas.

À Dyà Zù-Zù, which means We Bring the Heat, is a registered tax-exempt nonprofit organisation in the US and Liberia. It was created to develop the creative industries through strategic programmes that will economically and socially impact the lives of everyday Liberians, not just artists and cultural players.

Renken said Liberia had too many talented people who could easily compete on the world stage with their counterparts from Africa, but that could not happen if certain obstacles were not tackled to create opportunities for growth.

“One of the fundamental challenges facing the creative industries is the issue of intellectual property protection for artists and creators," she said. "We intend to tackle these issues by working with relevant bodies to ensure the protection of intellectual property rights in addition to educating policymakers on the importance of addressing piracy, as well as the economic opportunity that exists within the Liberian economy when the public and private sector work together to support the creative industry.

“Right now, we are developing a music curriculum for Liberian musicians, producers, engineers, managers and other industry players to enhance their knowledge about music production, the music business and the art of touring and promotion before addressing curriculums for the other creative industries. Also, we have begun contacting and negotiating with three major US publishing rights organisations."

The publishing organisations include ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Following discussions with À Dyà Zù-Zù's programme manager, US-based country music act JP Harris, these bodies will help Liberian acts to collect royalties internationally.

It is expected that once royalty collection begins, Liberian artists will become more informed about global industry standards and their own intellectual property. The founder of À Dyà Zù-Zù also said her outfit would work with the relevant stakeholders and government agencies to build infrastructure, including cultural centres, theatres, craft markets, recording and film studios and publishing facilities. Creative programmes ould also be created.

“At À Dyà Zù-Zù, one of our major goals is to work with communities across Liberia to develop cultural villages as a means for economic opportunity,” Renken said. “With the right strategy, support, marketing and education, these pilot cultural villages could establish an indigenously-led tourism attraction, and therefore establish an economy within the community, and possibly the region. A cultural village is also a means for cultural preservation.”