Music Copyright: Pay MCSN at your own risk – COSON warns users

The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has cautioned users of musical works to remain faithful in meeting their obligations to the Society, warning that anyone who pays MCSN for the use of works in COSON repertoire will be doing so at their own risk.

COSON restated that it remains the nation’s biggest collective management organisation, despite what it termed as “false and untenable propaganda” aimed at scuttling its operations by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and rival Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN).

In a statement issued Monday by the General Manager/CEO, Mrs. Bernice Eriemeghe-Ashibuogwu, the Society, which boasts of thousands of members across Nigeria and millions of local and international musical works and sound recordings, legally assigned and placed in its repertoire, said it was obliged to raise the alarm due to a statement credited to a staff of the NCC, Matthew Adeniyi Ojo.

According to Eriemeghe-Ashibuogwu, Ojo was reported as saying that the NCC has now legally empowered MCSN to be the CMO for the Nigerian music industry.

“COSON unequivocally states that the NCC has no powers under Nigerian law to make such a proclamation or empowerment under the circumstances,” she declared.

The statement read in part: “It is a widely known fact that the NCC has in recent years, on behalf of some officers of the present regime and their cronies, tried all kinds of obnoxious schemes to take over the operations of COSON, a very successful independent private sector organisation, or to impose a leadership on COSON that can be manipulated to the benefit of those officers of the regime who want to milk collective management of copyright in Nigeria for themselves at the expense of Nigerian musicians and the creative industry who own COSON. To their chagrin, COSON has fought all their crazy attempts to a standstill and their efforts to break COSON has failed.

READ: Musicians storm Access Bank, demand immediate release of COSON’s money

“As Nigeria enters the twilight of the present regime and government officials are desperate to achieve their objectives, it is not unexpected that the frustration and desperation of these officials will become more intense and more bizarre actions will be deployed to try to bring COSON down.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the public is hereby notified that COSON continues to operate lawfully and at no time has COSON ceded the rights to license any of the millions of musical works and sound recordings lawfully assigned to it, to the controversial MCSN, whose purported approval is still being stoutly challenged in court and no one including the Nigerian Copyright Commission is empowered by law to authorise MCSN to license works in the COSON repertoire, which are property belonging to innocent citizens recognised as such by the Nigerian constitution. The public is also warned that anyone paying MCSN for the use of works in the COSON repertoire is doing so at his or her own very high risk.”

COSON, which was licenced by the NCC in 2010, as the sole copyright collecting society for the music industry in Nigeria, listed the following as “the current legal situation” in the music copyright sector:

1. The N10 billion suit filed against the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) by COSON at the Federal High Court for NCC’s unlawful hounding of COSON, the most successful and best managed organisation ever set up by the Nigerian creative industry and for trying to impose a leadership or disrupt the lawful operations of COSON, has not been tried, struck out, determined nor dismissed.

2. The legal status of MCSN remains uncertain and questionable as the appeal filed in the purported approval of MCSN by the NCC in Appeal No CA/L/415/18 has not yet been determined by the Court of Appeal.

READ: Court summons Police IG, EFCC, DSS over harassment of COSON officials

3. The continued ability of the NCC to disturb, harass and intimidate COSON by the deployment of diverse government security agencies has been brought to a halt as the Hon. Justice A.R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court Abuja on 14th April, 2022 issued an Order restraining the Police, DSS, EFCC and several others whether by themselves or their officials, privies, servants, agents or howsoever called from in any way or manner harassing, disturbing, continuing to disturb or preventing, continuing to prevent COSON from lawfully enforcing the constitutional rights of its members, affiliates, assignees and reciprocal representation partners or interfering, continuing to interfere with the internal management, operations, funds of COSON or the bank accounts of COSON and its officers or preventing, continuing to prevent the members, affiliates, assignees and reciprocal representation partners of COSON from earning income and sustaining themselves with their Intellectual Property.

4. The Honourable Justice I. N. Oweibo of the Federal High Court, Lagos, recently granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Lagos based City F.M. 105.1 its agents, privies or servants from continuing to take and broadcast musical works and sound recordings belonging to COSON, COSON members, assignors and affiliates without the payment of all outstanding royalties to COSON.

The Society applauded its members across the country for their steadfast support in the midst of the lawless assault on the organisation and its leadership by the agents of state and their accomplices.

“We are proud that COSON remains the only organisation in the history of the Nigerian creative industry to subject itself to full financial audit every year since its inception and which has recently gone ahead to subject itself to a successful total forensic audit by one of the best-known auditing firms in the world.

“We express the determination of COSON to remain a transparent and law-abiding agent of strength unity, progress and growth for the music industry in Nigeria and the determination to shield the Nigerian music industry from scammers and marauders who want to turn collective management of copyright to their personal cash cow and Naira gushing ATM,” the statement stated.