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| Chief Tony Okoroji |
Copyright Society of
Nigeria (COSON) has read with amusement the empty threat by the leadership of
Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) that its affiliate stations may no
longer play the music of Nigerian citizens on Nigerian stations because
Nigerian musicians are asking for their right to be paid copyright royalties
for the exploitation of their music as is done in every country in the world.
The threat by the
leadership of BON reveals the crass ignorance with which some members of BON
have been misled and steered into easily avoidable crisis. It is indeed
revealing that these people who pretend to be leaders of the broadcast industry
in Nigeria, in this day and age, believe that they can play music belonging to
foreign nationals for free in Nigeria without any consequence. For their
information, by the reciprocal representation agreements entered into between
COSON and several collective management organizations around the world and the
various copyright conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory, every broadcast
station in Nigeria is bound to pay copyright royalties for foreign music as it
must for the music belonging to Nigerians. Failure to pay exposes Nigeria to
both economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Those members of BON who
have been made to believe that they can hide under foreign music to avoid their
duty to pay for the intellectual property of Nigerian citizens which they
consume are warned that they have no place to hide.
For many years, some
leaders of the broadcasting industry in Nigeria have lived in opulence and
squandered the money that should have been used to pay royalties to musicians
whose rights they have continued to infringe recklessly while the artistes died
in penury. For many years, they have used ‘divide and rule’ tactics and threats
to weaken the music industry and ensure that the industry did not effectively
challenge its exploitation. It is this section of the broadcast industry with
the close connivance of the leadership of BON that has been sponsoring the
renegade group with no legal standing called MCSN which is presently facing
criminal trial with its leaders at the Federal High Court. The aim of the BON
leadership has been to continue to divide the music industry, create confusion
and continue with the stealing of the intellectual property of creative people
in Nigeria. Finally, the chicken has come home to roost and the day
of reckoning has come.
Three and half years ago
and unexpectedly, all the major national organizations in the Nigerian music
industry came together under the banner of the Nigerian Music Industry
Coalition to speak with one voice and COSON was formed. COSON fulfilled all the
requirements under the law and was approved by the Federal Government. COSON
has received support from the entire copyright community around the world for
its professionalism and steadfastness in the defence of the intellectual
property rights of creative people in Nigeria. With the work of COSON, the sad
image of Nigeria as a lawless nation and the bastion of piracy and other forms
of copyright infringement has begun to abate.
COSON has done
everything to engage broadcasting stations in Nigeria to do what is done in
every other country in a very professional manner. COSON has met with
Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON), Independent Broadcasting
Association of Nigeria (IBAN), National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and
practically every major broadcasting network in Nigeria. While there are
broadcasting stations that have reached agreements with COSON and are
broadcasting music comfortably as required by law, some other stations have
allowed themselves to be deceived by the empty boast of people who have told
them that they can ‘handle’ COSON. These stations have been stalling and
waiting for COSON to be ‘handled’ and they may have to wait forever.
Why is the leadership of
BON suddenly having emergency meetings over COSON when it has frittered away
many opportunities in the past to sit down and resolve issues with COSON? Why
is BON flexing muscles that it does not have? BON is not a federal government
agency or a regulatory body. It is simply an association of the willing and
there are many in the broadcast industry who have no time for BON. The fact is
that the recent copyright infringement action brought by COSON against DAAR
Communications, owners of Raypower, AIT, and Faaji FM has uncovered the
supposedly big masquerade, shown that in Nigeria, no one is above the law and
exposed the MCSN puppets in BON and DAAR. Rather than face the court action
squarely and deal with the matter conclusively, the best AIT and Raypower can
do is to hire some MCSN persons to come and rant about COSON from morning till
night everyday on their stations and issue empty threats. Someone needs to tell
them that the times have changed, their old tactics cannot work anymore and the
days of free music on air in Nigeria are gone forever.
COSON is committed to
using the instruments of the law to fully defend the rights of creative people
in Nigeria and promote the Nigerian nation to the world. We will not be
intimidated and will never act outside the law. We are committed to ensuring
that musicians walk tall in Nigeria and earn a decent living for their work. We
will do what is necessary to ensure that our industry offers gainful employment
to the thousands of our countrymen who roam the streets today aimlessly. Take
it from me: we will work day and night, without fear or favour, to continue to
promote the spirit of the COSON slogan, ‘Let the music pay!’
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