COSON CALLS FOR DAY-LONG HUNGER
STRIKE BY NIGERIAN MUSICIANS ON “NO MUSIC DAY”
Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Nigeria’s sole approved
collective management organization for musical works and sound recordings has
called on its thousands of members across the country, other stakeholders in
the music industry and lovers of music in Nigeria who are sympathetic to the
plight of creative people ravaged by piracy and other forms of copyright
infringement in Nigeria, to observe a one day Hunger Strike on Thursday,
September 1, 2016 as Nigeria marks “No Music Day”
Making the call, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji said,
“Creative people in Nigeria cannot afford to forget 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 frustration caused by the devastating level of intellectual property
theft in our country was the prelude to what has become known as “No Music Day”
the day on September 1, 2009 that practitioners in the Nigerian music industry
asked all the 400 licensed broadcast stations in the country not to broadcast
music for a significant period of the day”.
Continuing, Chief Okoroji said, “In 2016, it has become imperative
that we take appropriate action to remind the different governments in Nigeria
that the disease which necessitated the hunger strike of 2009 has not quite
been cured and that at this time of dwindling oil revenue, Nigeria must take
important steps to protect its creative industries to ensure the socio-economic
progress of our nation”.
As internet websites, telecommunication operators, telephone
manufacturers, offline download speculators, etc. take hold as key channels for
the distribution of music, COSON has decided that the theme of this year’s
event would be “The Monetization of Musical Content in the Digital
Space”.
Broadcast stations across Nigeria have been requested not to
broadcast music between the hours of 8am and 10am on Thursday, September 1,
2016 as a mark of solidarity with the nation’s creative industries which have
suffered immensely from the debilitating infringement of copyright. Rather than
broadcast music, the stations have been asked to dedicate the 8 am to 10 am
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.
The Nigerian public is requested to tune in to different domestic
radio and television stations on September 1 to engage top COSON members,
Intellectual Property lawyers, investors in the music industry and other music
industry experts who will spread out to diverse broadcast stations to discuss “The
Monetization of Musical Content in the Digital Space”.
On No Music day, flags at the COSON office in Lagos will fly at
half-mast, the organization will issue an important statement on the state of
the music industry while there will be an ‘open day’ for artistes, journalists
and members of the public interested in the subject of Monetization of
Musical Content in the Digital Space.
