SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI
Today is September 1. It is “No Music Day” in
Nigeria, a day the music industry has dedicated annually to bring the attention
of the Nigerian nation to the widespread infringement of the rights of song
writers, composers, performers, music publishers, record labels and other
stakeholders in the music industry in Nigeria.
As we have done
every year in the past nine years, we have once again requested broadcasting
stations in the country to devote a substantial amount of broadcast time today
to programs which highlight the significant abuse of the rights of creative
people in our country. This is to show solidarity with the Nigerian creative
community ravaged by piracy and other forms of rights infringement. Nigerian
newspapers and magazines have also been requested to publish special features
on issues bordering on the infringement of Intellectual Property rights on this
“No Music Day” and in the coming days.
As we mark “No Music Day” today, we have also
asked the thousands of members of COSON across Nigeria and other stakeholders
in the music industry to stand up today and speak truth to power.
It is our firm belief that creative people in Nigeria cannot
afford to keep quiet any longer as Nigeria goes through another electioneering
campaign season in which politicians hop from one end of the country to the
other but no one offers any direction for the development and optimal
deployment of the millions of Nigeria’s creative talents for national
development.
Today, we wish to tell Nigerian politicians that we will not be
taken for granted anymore and we will not help people canvass for votes who
after getting into office will abandon the creative industry to suffer in an
environment that completely discourages creativity.
We are making it abundantly clear that it is only politicians who
have developed a sensible long-term plan for the progress of our industry and
have shown clear interest in the development of the nation’s creative
environment that can count on our significant support, the mobilization of our
fans and their votes as elections approach. In the same manner, we will
mobilize massively against those who have no plans to deploy the creative
energy of young Nigerian people.
People ask, “How did “No Music Day” begin?”. “No Music Day” is
traceable to that historic week in 2009 when Nigerian artistes of different
shades embarked on a weeklong hunger strike staged in front of the National
Theatre in Lagos. The hunger strike which was a result of the frustration
caused by the devastating level of intellectual property theft in the country
was the prelude to what has become known as “No Music Day” in Nigeria. The day
was September 1, 2009 when practitioners in the Nigerian music industry asked
the over 400 licensed broadcast stations in the country not to broadcast music
for a significant period of the day.
For the first time in human history, the music
industry in a nation called for the halt of the broadcast of music all over the
country for a whole day, September 1, 2009. This action captured the
imagination of the world and what we mark as “No Music Day” every year in
Nigeria, was born. It probably needs to be made clear that “No Music Day”
celebrated in Nigerian is a completely Nigerian creation arising from Nigerian
experiences and should not be confused with any event of a similar title held
anywhere else in the world.
We wish to remind the different politicians and political parties
canvasing for votes across the country that the disease which necessitated the
hunger strike of 2009 has not quite been cured. At this time that other nations
are building their economic growth on the creative and knowledge economy,
Nigeria must take important steps to protect its creative industries to ensure
the socio-economic progress of the nation.
We
use this opportunity to thank the different broadcast stations across Nigeria
which complied with our request not to broadcast music between the hours
of 8am and 10am as a mark of solidarity with the nation’s creative industries
which have suffered immensely from the debilitating infringement of copyright.
Across the country today many broadcast stations dedicated the time belt to the
broadcast of interviews, documentaries, debates and discussions that focus on
the rights of creative people and the potential contributions of creative
activities to the national economy. Newspapers and magazines across the country
have also been requested to publish special features on these issues in the
coming days. Flags at COSON House are also today flying at half-mast.
On “No
Music Day” 2018 we wish to underline the fact that at a time of dwindling
revenue, when we seek to improve the socio-economic conditions of our people,
Nigeria can no longer continue to pay lip service to the protection of its
creative industries. Today, all flags at COSON House are flying at half-mast as
we have an open house event so that journalists, artistes and intellectual
property professionals can interact.
As we mark “No Music Day” today, we must ask all Nigerians to seriously
think about a world without music. What kind of world exactly would that be?
See you next week
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