I attended
the Super 7 edition of the Nigerian Music Video Awards (NMVA) organized by
never-say-die CalyIkpe this last weekend. It was a really good show. As I came
in, I was welcomed by a senior broadcast journalist, a friend of mine. Even
before he had asked about the family, as I thought was the custom around here,
he fired me with ‘‘why are ‘you people’ hammering BON relentlessly?’’ In BON, he
obviously meant Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria and ‘you people’ I believe,
refers to Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) of which I am chairman.
I could not
understand how COSONoperating from one modest building in Ikejacould be said to
be hammering BON which has deployedmillions of naira in powerful transmitters
of its member stations spread across Nigeria to threaten the music industry
with the stoppage of the broadcast of Nigerian music on Nigerian airwaves. The
broadcast is repeatedcountless times every day. I thought of asking my journalist
friend if he had ever heard the phrase, self-defence. The conversation was lost
in the heat of the commotion caused by Paparazzi flashing light bulbs in all
directions and the countless new TV gossip columnists all demanding to talk to
me, not because they really find me interesting in any way but because they are
desperate for content to fill the endless airtime they have in their hands.
I have
thought of the question asked by my journalist friend and I have myself asked: What
does a right thinking man do when told that his life is about to be taken away?
Does he just sit there thinking about life after death or does he do something
to prevent himself from being sent to the great beyond?I think that with 99% of
rational people, there is really no debate as to which option they will grab.
Let’s face it - if unchecked, there are many crazy people in the BON system who
would attempt to implement their stupid bluff if only to teach the ‘rascally
musicians’ a lesson!
I have
wondered what they drank and smoked at the BON ‘Emergency Meeting’ where it was
decided that Nigerian music, considered by many to be the most demanded in the
world today, should be banned on Nigerian broadcast stations. I have also wondered
what alternative content was agreed to be deployed by the Nigerian broadcast
industry to fill the thousands of hours of air time yawning for programming.
This is exactly where the rubber meets the road. It is clear that the BON
people want to scare people in the music industry off their pants so that the
noisy musicians can run and beg BON not to yank their music off the airwaves.
The BON threat is predicated on a lie which broadcast people in Nigeria have told
themselvesfor too long: ‘Oh! we are doing musicians and the music industry a
big favour by playing their music on our stations!’
Let us face
the truth: Broadcast content is expensive to produce, whether it is news,
documentary, drama, talk, sports, etc. Apart from the expensive technical
equipment needed, talented writers, producers, directors, actors, on air
personalities, etc., are not cheap. The broadcast stations do not broadcast
music because they love musicians or because they want to promote Nigerian
music as BON claims. It is in their self-interest. The broadcast of recorded
music is the cheapest form of broadcast in the world. With a lot of music in a
flash drive and a small computer, you can keep your listeners happy for hours on
end. People like the music and advertisers go were the people go. That is why
Wazobia FM in Lagos with just a few on air personalities and 24 hours of music
makes far more money than a lot of the stations creating their own programmes.
Let us all analyse
the noisy complaint of BON that the tariffs demanded by COSON are way too high.
The highest COSON tariff for the broadcast of music is ten million naira a year
for an FM Station located in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt broadcasting 24
hours of music, 365 days a year. To the best of my knowledge, every licensed
station has found a way to negotiate this amount downwards. Broken down however,
what this means is that it will cost a station paying premium licence fees
N833,333 a month to play music. For a 30 day month, it will cost the station,
N27,777 a day to play music. If the station plays 20 hours of music a day, it
will cost N1389 an hour to broadcast music! That is less than what a lot of
broadcast personnel in Nigeria pay for shawama for their girlfriends. That is
indeed the highest tariff charged by COSON and in other cases, thetariff is
half or one quarter of the amount or even lower. It will be interesting to know
which one hour programme in Nigeria costs less than N1389 to make. If the
stations did not broadcast recorded music, they may need to contract musicians
to perform live in their studios. I am interested in knowing which musician
will do a one hour live programme for N1389.
The truth
is that all the posturing going on is not about high tariffs. It is about a long
standing master servant relationship which remains in the head of some people,
a mind set overcreative people in Nigeria. Fela, Steve Rhodes, Sonny Okosun,
Funmi Adams and a long list of Nigerian artistes worked for the broadcast
industry. It does not matter that after, Fela, Sunny Ade or Sonny Okosun became
more famous around the world than many Nigerian leaders. There are those who still
want to treat every Nigerian artiste with disdain. It does not matter that 2
Face Idibia is unlikely to do a one hour show anywhere in Nigeria for less than
N5,000,000. Paying N1389 for 2 Face’s music to be heard for one hour on radio
is to them outrageous. Let everyone ask BON: Since BON does not like the COSON
tariff, how much has BON proposed to COSON? Nothing!
The COSON
leadership has no big transmitters or broadcast studios. We however have a set
of very creative people, some smart phones, a few lap tops and some internet
modems. In a classic battle of David and Goliath, we have deployed our catapults
in self-defence and we have shot facts at propaganda.I hear that they are
complaining to newspaper editors not to give COSON anymore space.
The tragic
broadcast initiated by BON has gone repeatedly for over one month. Everyone who
should hear it has heard it over and over again yet they continue to broadcast
it. The music industry is yet to run to BON en masse in supplication. What I
seem to hear is ‘Thank you BON. Stop doing us the favour. Let the music pay!’
See you next week.
N.B. THE LOCOMOTION SERIES IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN SATURDAY
INDEPENDENT ON PAGE 37
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