Chairman COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji who made the announcement in Lagos said the commission will continue to use legal means to compel broadcasting stations to pay royalties for use of music.
Chairman, NBC, Mr. Emeka Mba had stepped into the imbroglio shortly after BON in conjunction with Independent Broadcasting Association of Nigeria(IBAN) announced that it will no longer play music belonging to members of COSON for unilaterally imposing royalties on broadcasting stations in Nigeria.
“Any moment from now, I expect the NBC to announce a framework which if fully implemented will bring to an end the era of the ban of the broadcast of the music of Nigeria’s best artistes on our nation’s airwaves. The implementation of the framework should also make it unnecessary for COSON to continue to deploy multiple-litigation to compel broadcasting stations to pay appropriate copyright royalties for the musical works and sound recordings they broadcast. There is no question that if we follow through with the process, we would have unchained the music industry in Nigeria and set it on a part of growth hitherto unknown. The broadcast industry should also benefit because it will operate in an atmosphere of stability and certainty”, Okoroji said adding we finally began a much needed and much postponed open conversation with the Nigerian broadcasting industry.
“Fierce as the engagement may have seemed, I believe that it was absolutely necessary and a lot of lessons have been learnt as a result. Both the music and broadcasting industries in Nigeria will be better for it over the long run. Even during the end of year festivities, the conversations continued on several fronts with the historic engagement of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and several well-meaning Nigerian institutions and individuals. Chief Okoroji assured that COSON is ready to work conscientiously with the different partners in the broadcasting industry and the regulatory agencies to ensure that the framework is successfully implemented and that the Nigerian nation benefits from the episode”, he said.
Okoroji appealed to national and state houses of assemblies and all the governments of the federation to ensure that clear provisions are made in the budgets of all Federal and State government owned broadcast stations for the payment of copyright royalties.
“it is very well known that most of these stations were set up for political reasons. They have very little chance of generating proper revenue. Meanwhile, they sustain their operations by freely using the intellectual property of innocent citizens who have invested in creativity with hard earned money. The Nigerian music industry cannot and should not be expected to subsidize broadcasting in Nigeria. The capital requirements of the stations are budgeted, the salaries of the staff are budgeted but the royalties to those who create and invest in the music which sustains the stations are not budgeted. This cannot continue”, he said.
