By Steve Dede
The war on rights and royalty currently ravaging the Nigerian music industry brought on an intense debate at the on-going Nigerian Entertainment Conference.
The session included Nigerian Pop singer like 2face Idibia (who delivered the session’s speech), OAP/show hosts Ik Osakioduwa and Olisa Adibua, Copyright Society of Nigeria Chariman, Tony Okoroji and entertainment consultant Edi Lawani.
During the session Olisa Adibua raised the question of which body royalties should be paid to. ‘There are many people involved in the process of making music and not just the artistes. You have song writers, producers, record label executives and studio engineers. If the proper way of distributing these royalties are not discussed and settled, this royalty war will still continue,’ Olisa said.
Tony Okoroji however insisted that despite the many debates and obstacles trying to restrict the payment of royalties, intellectual property has to be paid for. ‘All we keep hearing are excuses. We don’t want excuses, we want music to be paid for,’ Okoroji explained
Veteran musician Lagbaja also raised some major points, two of which are; ‘making ‘music logging’ a two-way system’ and ‘having more than one collective body’. He also asked that COSON and other bodies shift the attention away from its leaders and focus more on the body’s infrastructure.
