Photo Splash

Labels

Friday 20 December 2013

LOCOMOTION 5: WHY DO THEY WANT TO MAKE ME A HERO? – TONY OKOROJI

On the same day that the leadership of Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP) at Protea Hotel, GRA, Ikeja presented me with the ‘Nollywood Icon’ award for my work in the defence of the rights of creative people in Nigeria, another group of Nigerians under the aegis of Independent Broadcasting Association of Nigeria (IBAN) and Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) made history. On that day, IBAN and BON issued a statement banning from Nigerian airwaves the music of practically all the topmost music stars that our dear country has produced. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time in the history of mankind that all the top music stars of any nation have been forbidden from being heard on the airwaves of their nation.

You may ask, ‘what big offence did Nigerian artistes commit to be banished in their land?’ The artistes are members of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), the organization approved by Nigeria’s Federal Government to ensure that all those who use music in a public or commercial setting obtain a licence and pay royalties to the creators of the work for such use. You may also ask, ‘is Nigeria the first country where broadcasting stations are asked to pay royalties for their musical content?’ Certainly, not!In practically every civilized nation, it is unheard of to deploy the intellectual property of anyone in a broadcast without a licence and/or compensation. In Nigeria, it is the law of the land. Indeed, Nigeria is signatory to many international conventions requiring that we offer such protection not only to our citizens but to citizens of other nations. By not doing so, we expose ourselves to diplomatic and economic sanctions.


In the IBAN/BON statement which is being broadcast repeatedly on several stations across the country, they have left the message and pounced on the messenger. If you are not informed, the way they repeat my name,you may think that I am a politician running for office or a preacher of the gospel. I am simply Chairman of COSON and with a bible in my hand, I swore to defend the rights of members of COSON and its affiliates around the world. I have tried to do the job I swore to do the best I can.  All I have asked of my brethren in the broadcast industry is to obey the law and give to the worker, his dues. It is clear they don’t want a conversation. They want a shouting match.

Two and half years ago, I met a gentleman called John Ugbe. John is the first Nigerian MD of Multichoice, operators of DSTV. John had come to COSON to resolve the issues of payment of royalties for the music broadcast on DSTV. John is a serious person and we negotiated over several meetings and reached an agreement. We celebrated our agreement at an event organized by Multichoice, the same way we celebrated our agreement with Internet giant, Google and the Federal Government owned FRCN. There are several other broadcast stations paying music copyright royalties in Nigeria because they have agreements with COSON.

SamuelAlabi is the President of Hotel & Personal Services Employers Association of Nigeria (HOPESEA) to which nearly all the major hotels in Nigeria belong. Ask anyone who knows Alabi - he does not take nonsense from anyone. Alabi is a tough negotiator but we went back and forth and ultimately reached a deal under which a good number of top hotels in Nigeria are now paying royalties for the music they use.

I have heard quite a bit of the highly rotated broadcast of BON and IBAN. The way they talk about COSON’s‘harassment’, you will think that COSON is a group of area boys or motor-park touts and not one of Nigeria’s best run professional organizations that has gained the respect of many around the world.Please ask John Ugbe or SamuelAlabi or Bola Agboola, DG of FRCN or Google or the tens of other music users licensed by COSON if they were harassed by COSON. You must have heard the phrase: give the dog a bad name to hang it.

The BON/IBAN people don’t want to obey the law and asking them to obey the law is ‘harassment’.They are scrambling from one very bad excuse to another to justify that which is not justifiable. They have told too many lies and are trapped in their lies. This latest blackmail of the entire music industry is a tragic scene in their Comedy of Errors. I don’t know if they understand the folly in their actions. It is common knowledge that a noticeable player in the BON/IBAN leadership is a Director of the unapproved MCSN whose officers are presently facing criminal trial. His brief is to bring COSON to disarray and foist MCSN on the music industryin a scheme to divide and rule the industry. BON had even written to the Attorney-General of the Federation blatantly claiming that MCSN controls ‘95% of Nigerian music’ and must be approved. Now, they have published the names of the COSON members whose music they have banned and the list contains virtually every top Nigerian act! So, where is the 95% of Nigerian music which is ‘controlled’ by MCSN? Unashamedly, they told the AG that MCSN is in charge of the worldwide repertoireof the UK based PRS in Nigeria. PRS had to go public to clear the air and to state the fact that they have a reciprocal agreement with COSON and not MCSN.

I wonder who the BON/IBAN strategist is. As I said earlier, they do not want a civilized conversation where we can intelligently match facts for facts. Theywant a noise making confrontation with empty posturing, the kind you see in a motor park.Unfortunately for them, they have by their action brought the royalty matter to the centre of national discourse. Now, questions are being asked that must be answered with facts. Where will they hide with their many lies? Their expectation was that by now, musicians will be quarrelling amongst musicians and there would be a run on COSON and they will use the opportunity to legitimize MCSN andcontinue to exploit the music of innocent citizens free of charge. They have achieved the exact opposite. Maybe they have not realized it but they have helped to bring musicians closer than ever before. Every musician that has spoken to me has said: ‘to hell with BON and IBAN!’

I have listened to quite a number of stations since the ban was supposed to have gone into effect. They are all still playing music, either Nigerian music or international works in the COSON repertoire requiring a COSON licence. They are trapped because they did not think through any of their statements before they issued them.Some in the broadcast industry are upset that musicians in Nigeria can be so bold as to say ‘to hell’ with their babble. It is funny that IBAN wants to act like the Taliban. As we celebrate the incredible life of Nelson Mandela, let us not forget that like the Nigerian musician, Mandela was also banned in his nation but at the end became the leader of the people who banned him. It is a pity that there are some in our land who would prefer that the stars of our land live in bondage under BON.

I wonder why IBAN and BON keep shouting my name everyday on radio and TV. Why is the Nigerian broadcast industry bent on making me a hero which I am not?I have no ego that needs massaging and wish we would just do that which is best for our country and doit quietly. All this flexing of muscles is unnecessary as we really do not have any big issues between our two industries. We produce content and they use content and each of us will like to get the best value for our work. I know that these issues will be resolved. No big egos are required, only common sense. I believe that there are people in the broadcast industry with enough common sense and they will come out and we will do the needful. See you next week.



N.B. THE LOCOMOTION SERIES IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN SATURDAY INDEPENDENT ON PAGE 37

No comments: