US$286 Million in African Music Royalties Goes Missing Every Year
A new US programme is training African artists, producers and officials in intellectual property, targeting royalties that never reach the people who made the music. The post US$286 Million in African Music Royalties Goes Missing Every Year appeared first on The Rio Times .
An estimated US$286 million in recorded music revenue goes uncollected annually in Kenya and Nigeria. To address this issue, the United States has introduced a year-long program called IP for Growth. This initiative aims to assist African musicians, producers, lawyers, and officials in registering, tracking, and collecting music royalties.
The program, which began in Geneva and has since held workshops in Lagos and Johannesburg, is set to conclude in December at a WIPO meeting in Geneva. The Music Economy Development Initiative, a research partnership, conducted a study that revealed the losses incurred by these two countries. The study measures genuinely earned money that fails to reach the rights holders due to various administrative gaps, including unlogged radio play, incomplete streaming metadata, unreported live performances, and inadequate collecting societies.
While the initiative does not solely focus on piracy, it aims to tackle the legitimate plays on licensed platforms where the money fails to find its rightful owner. The US State Department's Africa Regional Media Hub launched the IP for Growth program led by Katherine Hiner, the intellectual property attaché for sub-Saharan Africa at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Hiner emphasized the need to move the conversation from a multilateral space to the creators and policymakers working on the ground. The program encourages African governments to ratify and implement two WIPO treaties covering digital distribution and streaming. Hiner also highlighted the importance of strengthening collective management organizations, making royalty collection transparent, and enforcing against piracy. She stressed that music is a business and that copyright remains crucial in protecting creators.
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