Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria
(COSON) is back to Lagos after a weeklong working visit to South Africa which
he says was "very productive and very revealing". According to Chief Okoroji,
he was in South Africa "to connect the pipes between the Nigerian and South
African music industries, the continent’s two biggest drivers of entertainment,
so that there is a free flow of ideas, resources, projects and economic
benefits to the stakeholders."
During the visit, Chief Okoroji who is a foremost promoter
of intellectual property rights in the continent was at the Johannesburg
Headquarters of the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of South
Africa (CAPASSO) where he signed a contract of Reciprocal Representation for
mechanical rights in music between CAPASSO and COSON. At the event, the CAPASSO CEO, Mrs. Nothando
Migogo, said that the she was overjoyed that finally Nigeria and South Africa
have established the platform to work together to ensure that composers and
publishers of music get the full benefit of the significant reproduction of
their works in Africa’s two biggest economies.
In Johannesburg, Chief Okoroji also met with Mr. Sipho
Dlamini, Chief Executive Officer of Southern African Music Rights Organization
(SAMRO) with which COSON has an existing reciprocal representation agreement.
At the meeting, significant discussions were held on the need to quicken the
project to create an interactive system that links the databases of the major
collective management organizations in Africa so as to have seamless access to
their works globally and to ensure appropriate compensation for the owners of
the works wherever they are used. Also discussed was compensation for Nigerian
musicians whose works are broadcast by South African broadcast systems.
In a separate meeting at the South African Music Performance
Rights Association (SAMPRA), Chief Okoroji met with Mr. Keith Lister, Chairman
of SAMPRA’s Management Board and there were profound discussions on approaches
to better manage the collection and distribution of royalties due to producers,
record labels and performers in Nigeria and South Africa.
In South Africa, Chief Okoroji who is an International
Counselor of the Norwegian Copyright Development Association (NORCODE) took
part in a two day workshop to strengthen NORCODE’s developmental assistance
programmes for collective management organizations in Africa.
Speaking on his South African mission, Chief Okoroji said, "the capacity that exists for employment, wealth creation and the improvement
in the standard of living of our people is enormous if we can deploy our
efforts to make our creative industries work optimally. Before now, the
creative industries in Nigeria and South Africa were like two computer
programmes that cannot communicate with each other but need each other to work
effectively. We have now begun the important work of laying the pipes and
connecting the wires so that the systems are speaking to each other real time.
When we are done, the wealth that will be generated will be significant. We
have continued to build a huge network of veins and arteries which now connect
COSON to over 130 collective management organizations in every continent around
the world. What this will do for Nigerian music in the coming years can only be
imagined. My trip to South Africa was an
integral part of that effort. It was very productive and very revealing".
11 Comments
Is Okoroji signing for music industry or himself?
ReplyDeleteHard working man
ReplyDeleteGood one.
ReplyDeleteHe deserves it
ReplyDeleteHope he won't start suing people in SA for using naija artistes songs...
ReplyDeleteConnecting pipe, is he a plumber? Lol!
ReplyDeleteFather of naija music industry
ReplyDeleteCongrats to him & music industry too!
ReplyDeleteHe makes things happen
ReplyDeleteTony is a businessman,he has made millions wit 9ja music industry
ReplyDeleteGood for him!
ReplyDelete