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KonkNaija Media | May 3, 2016

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Going to War with COSON Over Music Royalties Will Be Futile

Going to War with COSON Over Music Royalties Will Be Futile

| On 04, Sep 2013

Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria, the nation’s sole approved collective management organisation for musical works and sound recordings at the weekend declared COSON’s resolve to ensure an absolute end to further abuse and arbitrary use of musical works by broadcast stations and other music users without remission of the appropriate royalties due to the creators of the works.

Speaking in Lagos on September 1, at this year’s event marking the No Music Day celebration, Chief Okoroji reiterated COSON’s resolve to go after any copyright violator whose daily operations depend largely on the use of music but who continues to see no reason why the owners should be compensated for the use of their intellectual property. Chief Okoroji said:

 

“COSON is determined to substantially increase the royalty distributable to stakeholders in the music industry to match the massive use of music in our nation. Last year, COSON was compelled to institute several multi billion Naira law suits against some users of music and sound recordings in Nigeria. This was after every attempt at moral suasion had failed. COSON had to go to court as a last resort. As you know, the court actions were productive. It however appears that old habits die hard. Some of the users may have gone back to their old ways and not all have learnt the lesson that the days of free music are gone in Nigeria forever. Some may also be testing the resolve of COSON.Continuing he said “I therefore wish to make it clear that the resolve of COSON to protect the rights of music industry practitioners and to collect copyright royalties for the use of their music and sound recordings is rock solid. We will not waver and there will be no sacred cows. Our commitment to the cause of defending the rights of music industry practitioners in Nigeria is unshaken and unshakable. Very soon, we will bring the full weight of the law on all those who have refused to learn that the times have changed. Let me assure you that our approach this time will be very different. I wish to state clearly that it is far cheaper to obtain a COSON licence for the music used by anyone than to engage COSON in an expensive law suit which that person is sure to lose because in this day and age, no court of law anywhere will enter a judgment to the effect that anyone can freely abuse the intellectual property of others’. 

The annual No Music Day celebration put together by the Nigeria Music Industry Coalition; a coalition of the key national associations in the music industry across Nigeria is a day set aside to draw national attention to the widespread infringement of the rights of composers, song writers, performers, music publishers and other stakeholders in the music industry in Nigeria.

The theme of this year’s celebration is ‘Keep the music alive’. The objective is to once again engage the Nigerian people and the various governments on the potential contributions of Nigerian music to the socio-economic development of the Nigerian nation and the necessity to fully deploy the substantial international comparative advantage which our nation possesses in this area so as to provide hundreds of thousands of jobs to the teeming masses of Nigerian youth who today parade the streets of our country with little hope.

FOR COSON:
Chibueze Okereke 
Head, Communications, Media and Strategy
25, Omodara Street, Awuse Estate,
Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos.

Tel: 234-1-4808869, +2347028032114,
+2348067281792, +2348035899880
e-mail: info@cosonng.com
website: www.cosonng.com

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