Nigeria’s music copyright collecting society, COSON, has announced that that it will pursue the licensing of sound recording rights exploited by users in all commercial and public settings in Nigeria.
The news follows months of close cooperation between COSON and IFPI to enable the society to collect and distribute royalties to record companies and artists.
Rob Hooijer, IFPI regional coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “We are excited about the potential of the Nigerian music market and we are pleased to partner with COSON to help the industry exercise their rights Nigeria.
“We hope that the example set by COSON will encourage other countries and Music Licencing Companies to work with the local and international music industry.”
Adrian Cheesley, SVP Universal Music Group said: “This is a very important step benefiting artists, the local recording industry and the broader African music community. We look forward to working closely with COSON.”
Broadcasting and public performance rights, usually licensed collectively on behalf of the industry by dedicated music licensing companies, continue to grow for the music business, and were up 4.4% last year.
In 2015, worldwide collections for recording artists and record labels amounted to €2.3 billion and now account 14 per cent of overall industry revenues according to IFPI stats.Music Business Worldwide
