Music right owners in Nigeria have shared a total of N250 million according to the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON). The society said the sum was shared between September 2010 and September 2015.
According to the General Manager of the society Chinedu Chukwuji, the sum was royalty due to the musicians from their works over the years.
He said, “COSON gave out N250million to music right owners for their works. The money was given to compensate them for their talent and creativity in producing songs. The money is usually given at the end of each year. It is not all the artistes that benefited from the money but the ones that people listen to most.”
Within the last five years, he said that over 100 music artistes had benefited from the royalty.
“The era of artistes not being paid for their creativity has passed. This is a new era where commercial users need to pay for the music used in promoting their business. Restaurants, club houses, television and radio stations make use of artiste’s songs to promote their businesses and attract customers’ patronage.
“But, the music right owners didn’t benefit from such money but, the reverse is the case now. Artistes need to enjoy from the fruit of their labour,” he said.
