How To Create A Global Music Policy - Part 2

Let's Talk About The Big C - Copyright

(This article is part of a series - Here is Part 1.)

I am fascinated with the concept of glocalization as it relates to music streaming. According to a sampling of a few countries by economist

Will Page

and academic

Chris Dalla Riva

, more of us are consuming local music than ever before - i.e. more Spaniards are listening to Spanish (and Latin American) music, Germans to German music, and so on. Page, in an interview on Music Business Worldwide, explains this further:

Here’s my best stab at [explaining] the forces of supply: back when [recorded music] was a CD market, you had prohibitive costs of manufacturing and distributing CDs, and that may have favored global stars over local ones. Now those costs have disappeared; anyone can make music, anyone can get it onto platforms. Maybe that allows for [more] local investment.

The countries referenced in Page and Dalla Riva’s analysis for the London School of Economics are all nations with the ability to track such usage, be it Spain (although their history of transparent copyright regulation is questionable), Germany, Japan, or South Korea. 

But let us zoom out for a moment. There are 193 countries in the United Nations. 150 of them signed UNESCO’s Mondiacult declaration, committing their nation to recognize culture as a sustainable public good. Therefore, all of them should be benefitting from glocalization here. But unfortunately, this is not the case. And the reason is where I want to start in building a global music policy - the other big ‘C’ - copyright. 

More quick context. Copyright is theoretically respected in most sovereign nations. There are conventions to protect artistic (and literary) intellectual property since the Berne Convention was first adopted in 1886. Currently, there are 179 signatories including Afghanistan, Russia, and Lesotho. However, it can be argued that there is a lack of functioning copyright management organizations (CMOs) in many of these 179 countries, or even the 150 that signed the Mondiacult declaration. And this damages the global music economy from its very inception.

If you want to pursue music as a career, this requires the intellectual property that you create is - irrefutably - owned by you (and /or partners) and that when used (i.e. played on the radio or listened to on YouTube), triggers a payment for said usage. This is the foundation of the industry - recognizing usage, tracking it, and paying for it. Yet, the majority of countries in the world do not have effective copyright management frameworks for music. 

So this is the first requirement of a globally adopted music policy. Every country should establish a transparent copyright management system.

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 Here is a potential directive: 

We (signing entity/country) commit to establishing or if one exists, improving a trackable copyright management infrastructure for the benefit of all current and future domiciled artists and writers.  

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All nations have artists, radio stations, the Internet, and local music. Yet, the majority do not impartially remunerate those whose music IP is disseminated. Examples are all over the place. Take this one in Uganda; or this one in St. Lucia where politicians themselves are infringing copyright; or this one in the Philippines where talent shows are pirating local music. I could go on. And each of these nations has legislation to uphold the value of artistic and creative works. They are not outliers.

This is made even worse by a lack of cohesion between the development of a national (or other jurisdictional) music policy in places that lack copyright regulation. For example, Pakistan has taken (much-needed) steps to recognize the value of its music sector lately. For example, there is a new online portal to access Pakistani folk music (presumably public domain) and in the speech introducing the strategy, the Minister responsible stated that the norm was theft. This is good, but results remain to be seen.  

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What is the solution? If we better assert the role of music - and gave it its own policy brief - over time this would demonstrate that music is worth a policy of its own, which will foster trust and eventually compliance (for all parties involved). At the same time, it would require an about-face on education provision; if we’re to change, we need a wider civic understanding of how music works and why it matters.

If we don’t explore new governance frameworks, what are we losing? In a world where we must exploit non-extractive, long-term skills development that does not rely on pulling finite resources out of the ground, pivoting to the creative economy is attractive.

Would all countries adopting a unified global music policy - specific to fostering its economic and social value (in all its genres, disciplines & diasporas) help? I am not sure, but I am willing to try something different if this is how it works now.

We are listening to more local music and local music is everywhere. Yet, paying for local music is not happening everywhere. I believe a global music policy - led by international entities and signed by all nations with a commitment to establishing effective, modern copyright infrastructure everywhere - can improve not only the lives of musicians but also impact every community they live in.

To conclude this post for paid subscribers, I have ranked all 193 UN signatory countries’ (plus 2 more not in the UN) copyright infrastructure as either functioning, existing but not well functioning, or non-existent. If you would like to have a look and debate this analysis with me, please do consider supporting the Substack.

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But before that, let me introduce you to my next #AgentofChange, Ayotunde Falana.

Who? Ayotunde runs Leading Support for Humanity (LSFH), a nonprofit based in Liverpool, UK.

What Is He Doing? Ayotunde is an incredible champion of disabled rights in music and the creative economy. As part of LSFH, he runs Tigon Media, which provides media production opportunities for young people, training & mentorship.

Why Should We Care? Ayotunde is a champion of ensuring music is accessible to everyone, no matter who they are and where they live. As a wheelchair user, he’s been instrumental in creating local opportunities in Liverpool for other differently-abled musicians and emerging media professionals. He also staged MAP-Fest, which was a one-day festival to address systemic poverty in the city. Every place needs an Ayotunde.

If you want to learn more….here is info on LSFH and how to donate to their incredible work.

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