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Tag: Chief Tony Okoroji

  • No Music Day: Creatives should show good examples in operation

    No Music Day: Creatives should show good examples in operation

    Former President of PMAN and Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, has called on creatives across Nigeria to become generals and foot soldiers in the battle to rid Nigeria of the rot of corruption and bad leadership.

    In a 2024 “No Music Day” broadcast streamed simultaneously on several media platforms on Sunday, September 1, 2024, Chief Okoroji said: “To my friends and colleagues in the creative industry, we can no longer hide our heads in the sand and pretend that the battle to wipe out corruption in Nigeria, and enthrone good governance, does not concern us.

     “If we have accepted to live with the rot that we see everywhere in Nigeria, we must ask ourselves if it is in this rot that we want our children and grandchildren to grow up.

     “So, today, on this “No Music Day” I call on everyone in the Nigerian creative family to become generals and foot soldiers in the battle to rid Nigeria of the rot of corruption and bad leadership. We must deploy our voices, our writings, our movies, skits and drama to lead the war so that when the story is told, it would be clear that we did not run from our responsibilities. 

     “But, if we are coming to justice, we must come with clean hands. If we are going to fight corruption, we must be sure that we are not corrupt ourselves. If we are fighting bad leadership, we have to be absolutely sure that we are not providing bad leadership ourselves. In other words, we must practise what we preach.

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    “So, I call on all the organisations in the creative industry to show good examples in the way we operate. Our organisations must be…I say… must be transparent and accountable. I state that no one should assume the leadership of any of our creative industry organisations without an open and clear mandate of the members from a free and fair elections conducted according to the rules and constitution of the organisation. In each of our organisations, the abiding object must be to uphold and fight for the interest of our members and not the hijacking of the instruments of the organisation for the personal enrichment of the leaders. Let me repeat. We must practise what we preach.”

  • Okoroji promises bumper year for COSON members

    As the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON)’s office, Lagos, reopens for 2019, Chairman of the Collecting Society, Chief Tony Okoroji, has asked members and affiliates to see 2019 as a bumper year for them and their organization.

    According to Okoroji, with new leadership at the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), “the destabilization, meddling and unending interference in the internal affairs of COSON, a 100% private sector organization set up without one Naira of public money, should cease.”

    The former President of PMAN said that instead of the continuation of the adversarial relationship that has not produced any good for anyone in the copyright system, the leadership of COSON looks forward to a more co-operative relationship with the NCC so that the tremendous local and international goodwill and expertise available to COSON can be deployed not just for the good of COSON members but for the progress of the entire Nigerian creative community and the Nigerian nation.

    In his New Year message to the creative community, Okoroji said that he was aware that many friends of COSON were deeply concerned about the battle for the soul of COSON which started in 2017 and went through 2018. According to him, “some of our friends were scared that in 2018, COSON will scatter or die like many creative industry organizations before it”.

    “Rather than die,” he said “COSON has become stronger.”

    He explained that the challenges of recent months have created the opportunity for the laws dealing with collective management of copyright in Nigeria to be vigorously queried and the internal rules of COSON to be properly examined.

  • OKOROJI UNVEILS ‘777’ OF COSON WEEK 2017

    CHAIRMAN of the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, has announced the core objectives of COSON Week 2017 which has the catch phrase ‘777.’

    The COSON Week which takes place every two years will hold from October 29 to November 4, 2017 and will be celebrated with seven events at seven venues over seven days across Lagos.

    Speaking at the end of the recent Banking Industry Stakeholders Forum on Copyright held at COSON House in Ikeja, Chief Okoroji who was recently presented with ‘the Pillar of Entertainment in Nigeria’ award, said that apart from the massive entertainment that will be unleashed by hundreds of Nigerian musicians, the COSON Week 2017 will target specific objectives.

    He listed the objectives as creating significant awareness fort he fight against piracy, mount a forceful campaign against hate speech and vigorously promote the Nigerian Music Industry to contribute more meaningfully to the nation’s GDP. Others are to sell Nigeria to the world as a tourist destination and support the COSON Music Foundation set up to assist old or indigent artistes or musicians in distress.

    Okoroji, author of ‘Copyright & the New Millionaires’, who acknowledged the media support also appealed banks and corporate Nigeria including banks to support COSON Week 2017.

    “We all have a big stake in the stability, survival and progress of the Nigerian nation and cannot wait until the falcon can no longer hear the falconer,” said Okoroji.

    “We just need to look at the misery that comes with the failure of nations to understand that no investments we make towards the stability of Nigeria is too much. I have had very deep and frank discussions with the Honorable Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on our ‘Music for National Stability’ initiative. He was indeed the one who called me to pledge support for what we are doing.  I believe that he gets it. Let me make it clear that I have never belonged to any political party and that we seek the support of all Nigerians irrespective of their political inclinations. We want a peaceful and stable nation in which our children can dream and grow.”

     

  • COSON distributes N90m in royalties

    COSON distributes N90m in royalties

    To the elation of several music artistes, the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), last Tuesday, distributed varying amount of money to members, running into N90 million.

    It was the fourth time the society was distributing monies collected on behalf of its members, from users of musical works, and the amount shared this year, represents 80 percent increase on the sum of N50 million which the society distributed in 2013.

    The distribution exercise, which kicked off with an Extraordinary General Meeting of COSON, at the Oranmiyan Hall, Lagos Airport Hotel, had musicians of all generations, including the iconic Dan Maraya Jos, Chris Ajilo, Laolu Akins to the likes of Majek Fashek, OJB Jezreel, Azeezat, Black O’ Rice and Kenny St Brown.

    The musicians had gathered at the EGM to approve the distribution of the sum of N90 million, before the commencement of the distribution to industry right holders across Nigeria.

    Present at the meeting was the Lagos Zonal Manager of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr. Chris Nkwocha and Chairman of the newly approved Audio Visual Rights Society (AVRS), Mr. Mahmood Ali-Balogun.

    Delivering his address at the event, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji spoke on the society’s plans to significantly increase its distributable income, calling on the Federal Government to hasten the implementation of the Copyright Levy Scheme which he said is crucial to the survival of the music industry in Nigeria.

    He said: “As you well know, with the advent of new technology, most people no longer obtain their music or movies by buying CDs or DVDs. They download or bluetooth and deny owners of the works significant revenue. To compensate for this loss, in many countries around the world, a small levy is charged on the gadgets used for this stealing of intellectual property. The money collected from the levy of such gadgets such as MP3s, MP4s, cellphones, memory cards, flash drives, etc, is paid through the collective management system to the artistes, writers and producers whose music, movies and books are stolen. Twenty two years ago, Nigeria became the first country in Africa to provide for the levy in our laws. Sadly, well over 22 years since the promulgation of the law, the unending protocol, red tape and bureaucracy in the Nigerian system have made it impossible for the stakeholders to benefit from this important scheme which have for several years been lubricating the creative industries in neighbouring Ghana and Burkina Faso. It is our desire to ensure that the private copy levy scheme becomes operational in Nigeria in 2015 so that we have a new revenue stream to substantially increase the COSON distributable revenue.”

    Speaking on the distribution, Dancehall king and COSON Board member, Baba Dee Fasassi said, “The annual distribution of copyright royalties to rightholders by COSON remains one of the best things to happen in the music industry. This is very commendable and we look forward to better days as regards the struggle for the respect of intellectual property rights in Nigeria.”

    For songstress and COSON Director, Azeezat Allen, “This is yet another beautiful day at COSON. Despite all the setbacks, COSON is still standing. This is a testimony to the resilience of our members in insisting that the copyright law in Nigeria is upheld.”

  • Payment of royalty to artistes: COSON, Cool FM settle out of court

    Payment of royalty to artistes: COSON, Cool FM settle out of court

    Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has withdrawn the multi-million Naira suit filed against Cool FM over non-payment of royalties to artistes.
    This followed an out of court settlement agreement reached between the two parties.
    At the  meeting held at Opebi, Ikeja headquarters of COSON, both teams resolved the issues of royalties for the musical and sound recording broadcast by Cool Fm stations across the country.
    The COSON team was led by its chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji while the Cool Fm team was led by the Chairman of Steam Broadcasting, Mr Amin Moussalli.
    The Head of Media Communication and Strategy, Chibueze Okereke, who confirmed the report, said the two parties agreed that the suit filed by COSON in June, 2012 against Cool FM be withdrawn from court with immediate effect.
    Others present at the meeting were the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Steam Broadcasting,  Ms Evita Moussalli, Director of Finance, Mr Idowu Adebayo. Others in the COSON team  included its General Manager, Mr Chinedu Chukwuji, Head Licensing, Mr. Ayoola Daramola and a member of the licensing team, Mr. Victor Nwokocha.
    Also in July this year, COSON reached similar agreement  with Globe broadcasting, owners of Wazobia FM and a sister company to steam Broadcasting on payment of royalties to artistes