Mr. Mayo Ayilaran of Nigeria was announced as the new Africa Region President for CISAC. Ayilaran has a long history in the collecting society arena and has served for years as the head of MCSN, the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria. Full story from the Vanguard here.
Afro-Leo can’t help but wonder how this new development will affect the on-going collecting society saga in Nigeria. MCSN was a long-standing player in the Nigerian music industry, and many argue that it still is. However, as reported previously on this blog, the Nigerian Copyright Commission has approved a new collecting society, COSON, as the only collecting society allowed to operate in Nigeria.
Despite this announcement, MCSN has continued to represent its member artists and collect royalties, just as it did when there were no approved collecting societies in Nigeria. With Ayilaran’s transfer to the CISAC regional offices in Johannesburg, will MCSN continue moving forward? Will the bad blood between MCSN and COSON affect COSON’s ability to work internationally and obtain important reciprocal agreements with other collecting societies? Tuyakulanga, we will see.
