COPYRIGHT AND THE NIGERIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY: Examining the Licencing Regime under the Nigerian Copyright Act by Ademola Adeyoju
When songwriters compose lyrics or performers (artists) perform music, their ‘works’ are automatically protected. Like every other property, the copyright they have in such works may then be licensed or even sold out or assigned. Assignment and sale of copyright are a bit straightforward: therefore, the focus of this article is on copyright licencing.
As mentioned above, copyright confers an exclusive right on the copyright owner and excludes any other person from using or exploiting the protected work without the authorisation of the copyright owner. A licence is an instrument by which a copyright owner grants some or all of his right in a work to someone else.12 Licencing is usually preferable to outright sale or assignment because it gives the copyright owner a greater control over the work.
Specifically, a music copyright licence is the legal permission to utilise music in instances where such utilisation would otherwise result in infringement. Where a music licence is granted, ownership rights remain vested in the artist (licensor), while the other party (licensee) now has legal authority to exercise some or all of the artist’s rights to such extent as is allowed in the licence agreement between the parties.
A licence may be exclusive or non-exclusive: The NCA defines an exclusive licence as a licence “signed by or on behalf of a copyright owner, authorising the licensee to the exclusion of all other persons (including the person granting the licence),
