Copyright Tussle: Musicians tells BONIBAN to respect their intellectual property.

Musicians
demand royalities.

Several
Nigerian musicians banned by the Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria, BON, and Independent Broadcasters’ Association of
Nigeria, IBAN, met on Wednesday at Club Rumours in GRA,
Ikeja, Lagos where they resolved that their unity would not be broken by the
ban and asked the broadcasts stations to respect their intellectual property.

At the
well attended forum, the musicians resolved that any attempt to cow them would
not work as payment of royalties was a must.Banky W, 2 Face Idibia, 9ice, Sound
Sultan, MI, Azeezat, Ill Bliss, Wunmi Obe, Obiwon, 2Shotz, Audu Maikori, Bayo
Omisore and representatives of Burna Boy, Sound Sultan, Dammy Krane, Sir Victor
Uwaifo, Ice Prince, Sunny Neji, Solid Star, Eva Alordiah, were some of the
artistes present at the forum.

At the
end of the meeting, the musicians reached a new 10-point resolution which are:

i. That
no true Nigerian artiste or right owner should sell his/her birth right to IBAN
or BON or any other recalcitrant broadcasting organization or be made to be
subservient to any such organization and that IBAN/BON must be made to
understand that their attempt to cow Nigerian musicians will not work.

ii. That
the whole world must be made to know that in their historic battle with IBAN
and BON what Nigerian artistes are seeking is justice, respect for their
intellectual property and fair compensation for their creativity.

iii. That
the Nigerian nation must be made to understand that the extraordinary steps
taken by BON/IBAN to ban Nigeria’s best music stars from the airwaves owned by
all Nigerians is not just a threat to a few individuals in the music industry
but a threat to the Nigerian nation itself.

iv. That
Nigerian music industry stakeholders should closely monitor every IBAN/BON
station and if any of them fails to comply with the broadcast of 80% Nigerian
music as every station is bound under Nigeria’s Broadcast Code, Nigerian music
industry stakeholders will rally the government and its appropriate agencies to
withdraw or cancel the broadcast licence of any such station.

v. That
key music industry stakeholders should be present at the meeting between COSON
and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on Thursday, December 12,
2013 at the Lagos office of NBC at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos
by 10.00am.

vi. That
the great disappointment of the music industry stakeholders be expressed with
respect to the IBAN press release signed by Mr. Sunny Osa Adun and Mr. Guy
Murray Bruce of Silverbird Communications banning the broadcast of the music of
Nigeria’s best cultural assets despite the continued contribution of the
Nigerian music industry to the success of Rhythm Unplugged and other events
organized by Silverbird Communication, over the years.

vii. That
if the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) fails to make any visible
progress in resolving the music copyright royalty problem created by IBAN and
BON at its meeting with COSON on Thursday, December 12, 2013, no
self-respecting Nigerian artiste should henceforth perform at the events of
Rhythm Unplugged and the music industry will hereafter withdraw its support for
Rhythm Unplugged and similar events organized by those that continue to show
disrespect for the music industry and its right owners.

viii.
That henceforth as a condition for the broadcast of music on radio and
television stations, every broadcasting station operating in Nigeria must
maintain adequate logs and records of all music played by the stations as is
the practice everywhere in the world.

ix. That
the organizers of Headies Awards, if they are truly interested in the progress
of the music industry, which their show seeks to promote, must show clear
public solidarity for artistes and stakeholders in the Nigerian music industry
at this time when the rights of the music industry in Nigeria is facing
historic threat, or the industry would be left with no choice but to call for a
mass boycott of the events of the Headies.

x. That
all music industry stakeholders with Twitter and similar accounts should create
and send out informative messages that would help educate the right owners and
the general public on the issues at stake.

Written
by Micheal Abimboye

Copyright Tussle: Musicians tells BONIBAN to respect their intellectual property.