My CMO and Me

The silence was deafening for a moment, the atmosphere thick with emotion during a media parley when the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) paid a visit to Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON). The heart rendering information had just spread round that the works of the late Sir Nico Mbarga could not be found anywhere in the database of musical works around the world. Simply put, Sir Nico Mbarga while alive received little or nothing as music copyright royalties for his music exploited at home and abroad and that includes the monumental hit song Sweet Mother. The use of his works could not be tracked and so royalties he should have earned were never realized even though his works were massively exploited internationally. Sadly Sir Nico Mbarga, whose works turned many businesses into gold mines, could not be referred to as wealthy; even though his creative works when put together were equivalent to a gold mine. Ironic, isn’t it?

This, sad as it may be, has been the story of many music right owners in Nigeria for as long as can be told. Sad tales of enriching the businesses of many others and yet being unable to fend for themselves.

What is a CMO?

When it pertains to music copyright, the acronym CMO represents a collective management organization (kindly note that CMOs are not limited to music, they can be set up for other areas of copyright such as literary, cinematography, broadcast, etc).The concept of Collective Management of copyright in music is described as the link between creators or owners of music and users of such works. CMOs are  stand-in for the copyright owners.

The benefits of a CMO to a music copyright owner/holder and user cannot be over emphasized. Imagine that Tuface Idibia with all the music hits to his credit decides to collect royalties due to him from all users of his works. He will have to journey to all the licensed broadcast stations, hotels, night clubs and other such users within and outside Nigeria where his works are used. He will monitor their individual use of his works, negotiate with them and work out a tariff and payment plan with each of the users. One thing is certain; Tuface Idibia will spend practically all his productive life chasing after users of his works and no time to create any more of the good music for which he is well loved.