MCSN asks FG to fund NCC, congratulates Tems on Grammy award

The Musical Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd/Gte (MCSN) has called on the Federal Government to ensure that the agency saddled with copyright matters, Nigerian Copyright Commission(NCC) is given adequate fundung, while congratulating Grammy Award winner, Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems for her achievement.

The agency, through its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mayo Ayilaran, made this known while commenting on the award in an interview on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

He showered encomiums on Tems for the achievement and spoke about other issues in entertainment, adding that, “the Nigerian artistes have been making their mark on the world entertainment stage. And this is the evidence that Nigeria is a great country. And we are making our mark in the field of science, agriculture and all other human endeavor, that Nigerian musicians are being recognized and winning awards particularly at the Grammy level shows clearly that we have talent, we have creativity and Nigeria is a great country.”

On how the country can maximize the gains of Tems achievement, Mr. Ayilaran said, “Yes, we can maximize it, first the Government must be conscious of its own contribution to making the country great, to make our artistes perform well but as it is presently, there is very little or nothing to show for the Government involvement or contribution in this area.

“Whatever we have seen in terms of winning awards or winning many things across the globe in the creative industry is due to individual efforts. There has not been serious Government commitment. Government should lead the way, see the French speaking African countries, their Governments do a lot of investments in the creative industry,” he said.

He further explained that “then, the artistes themselves have to concentrate and do what is necessary to maintain and increase the standard. Actually this year I expected to see more Nigerians winning so it is a bit disappointing to me that we only have one win and another nomination. I had expected to see more, having won two or three at the 64th Grammy Awards.”

In specific terms, Mr Ayilaran suggested that, “First, the Government will have to get its acts together by creating policies that will encourage the artistes to take creativity very seriously. For example making sure that their rights are protected in every where there are exploitation of those works because presently we have the Copyright Act that protect these rights but the enforcement is not heavy enough.

“The agency saddled with copyright matters is not well funded, that is the Nigerian Copyright Commission, investment in places where creativities are exhibited is lacking. See the National Theatre as an example, it is only of recent we hear that it has been privatized or conceded to private management but those are the kind of places concert should be holding regularly.

“There are other agencies that are inhibiting the exploitation or inflow of funds or out flow of even necessary materials that will aid creativity. Then what of instruments that these musicians use, they are so costly, heavily taxed and so on. These problems require the Government to set up a think tank to proffer solutions or the way forward in the areas of what the individual artiste can do, what the Government can do and what the corporate bodies can do in order to make our artistes excel,” he said.

Answering a question about how MCSN has served the interest of its members, the CEO of the Society said, “As for us, we have our own challenges because number one, many of those using these works are not willing to pay for works they use, meanwhile they go to the banks with heavy profits but they don’t want to give the little one to the artiste.

“For example this Tems that won this Grammy Award, it translates that many radio stations, many television stations would be playing and broadcast her works but there is little or nothing coming to her because they have not paid us. Most of our artistes need to belong to an organization like MCSN so that their works are well monitored, well tracked and the money due to them are collected.

“And as intermediaries, we also stand in the gap for them whenever their rights are infringed in anyway by any recalcitrant user. We stand in the gap for them to take the necessary legal action and get their rights for them. It is like a kind of symbiotic relationship.

“Now all over the world, Tems work will be in the air, her name and everything but if we don’t have the right material, if we don’t have the right support, if we don’t have the right encouragement it will be difficult for us to track and get all the necessary money for Tems, so they will only be big in names, not really money. The concerts they perform is only once, while incomes from royalties flow like the stream,” he reiterated.

Ayilaran also congratulated other Nigerian musicians who were nominated but did not win, saying that the nominations alone meant that their works are of a high standard and an encouragement to work even harder.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE