The Role of Collective Management Organizations in the Evolution of the Nigerian Music Industry

Abstract

“Afrobeats to the world” is a popular expression and hash tag used among African music lovers to describe the global acceptance of African music. In addition to possessing Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria dominates the African music industry. In 2014, its music industry contributed 1.2% to Nigeria’s overall GDP. Despite their international exposure, Nigerian artist receive less than 5% of their royalties internationally. As a result, Nigeria’s top Afro-pop artists like Tiwa Savage, Davido, and Wizkid, have signed publishing and distribution deals with experienced US recording companies like Sony Music, RCA Records, and Rocnation. Part one of this paper will provide an overview of the role of collective management organization “CMOs” in the collection and distribution of royalties. Part two will discuss the role and methodology of the Copyright Society of Nigeria in collecting and distributing artists’ royalties domestically and internationally. Recognizing the growth of Nigerian music being played in the United States and United Kingdom, part three will provide a comparative analysis of collective management societies: BMI, ASCAP, and PPL. Part four will present recommendations for collective management reform in Nigeria: improving the WIPOCOS software used to track royalties and current business strategy, and amending Nigeria’s Copyright laws for Collective Management Organizations by incorporating language from the EU’s 2016 Collective Rights Management Directive. If these recommendations are adopted, artist will be able to collect more royalties internationally.