CISAC

The Elevate Prize Funding will be pivotal to sustain the efforts engaged both in Cape Verde ( pilot phase) and at the African Union ( continetal policy decision making level )for the recognition and implementation of the Copyright Friendly Label ( CFL) as a sustainable scheme to remunerate african artists for the exploitation of their artworks. The Prize will enable to achieve the following goals:

1. Securing the necessary financial resources needed to complete the pilot phase of the CFL initiative; the scaling up of the project to 15 countries in the first three years of the phasing in stage, paving the way for its ownership and financial sustainability from the fourth year.

2. Informing and providing the technological solutions to enable the CFL initiative to be users' friendly, smart and solutions driven. 

3. Marketing the CFL initiative and positioning it at a global level through connections with key influencers (decision makers, international organizations, famous artists, etc.)

4. Providing the needed mentoring and coaching services to build the capacities of the CFL human resources (CFL Solutions engineering teams, steering committees, copyright societies, etc.) 

5. Building the CFL community in Africa and around the world.

In 2010, I was part as a manager of a music band made of university friends. I experienced first-hand copyright infringement. A film music producer without consent recorded and used music produced by the group as sound-track in a movie without remunerating these artists. I realized then how artists were powerless when copyright laws were not enforced and how they were exploited by such users. This prompted me to pursue  extensive trainings in Intellectual Property in 2015, before joining CISAC as Regional Director for Africa in 2016. 

That experience sadly is a microcosmic representation of the African narrative for most artists existing in the stifling predatory system. Most artists are forced to sacrifice passion for subsistence. Some are forced to take low paying jobs to afford basic day-to-day expenses with no hope of a better future.

The situation needs to change  because it affects million of artists in Africa.  I feel that my positioning must propel me to bring about a change or I’ll be relegated to the role of an accomplice. This resonates further with my core as an artist, understanding that this could have been me. With the CFL initiative , the change is within our power.   

Despite the existence of copyright laws in the 31 countries, with activities and presence of copyright societies that are members of CISAC in Africa, copyright enforcement is challenged by low rate of compliance by businesses which continue to massively exploit artworks such as music, audiovisuals, and paintings as significant parts of their business model. From a survey conducted in 22 countries in 2017, only 30 % of television and 40 % radio broadcasting companies comply with payment of copyright royalties of music or audiovisual materials they exploit. 

 Moreover, CISAC in its 2019 Global Collection Report states that "Creators’ collections in Africa are still mismatched compared to the region’s creative output, representing less than 1% of the global total".  In these 31 countries, at least five hundred thousands creators are deprived of their right to a decent living, as a consequence of these exploitations by businesses.

Through the CFL initiative,CISAC ( which role is to support creators realize the economic benefits of their creativity) is engaging businesses, consumers, policy makers to comply not only to copyright laws but to be propelled also by corporate-citizen scioeconomic responsability when it comes to remunerate creators.

The Copyright Friendly Label initiative is a groundbreaking approach because it radically changes the distribution of power found in the traditional copyright compliance system. In this system, users hold strong bargaining position because, in an environment where copyright laws are not efficiently enforced, the choice to comply or not is solely theirs. Copyright societies and the artists they represent are in a weaker position and have limited resources and means to push users to comply. 

With the CFL initiative, the power is shifted to artists, copyright societies and citizens, as they are the ones granting the label to complying users. With the brand value created by such a label, users are compelled to strive to secure this accolade, in order to sustain their brand image.

Moreover, the initiative by its existence promotes accountability, with copyright societies serving as a conduit that allows the monitoring and evaluation of businesses on behalf of the artists they represent. The compliance criterion is measurable, efficient, fair and transparent.

Eventually the label triggers a positive behavioral change towards compliance in payment of royalties, driven more by the individual and collective consciousness of the value derived from artistic works rather than the enforcement of laws.

Steps taken to have an impact across Africa:

1. Elaboration and validation of a Strategic Plan (2017): This process has involved 37 copyright societies from 32 countries;

2. Establishment of Africa Copyright Ambassadors( 2017): Ambassadors are artists  from 31 African countries who act as spokespersons  in advocacy and transformative actions calling for copyright compliance; 

2. Celebration and implementation of the 1st ever Africa Copyright and Collective Management Day ( 2018) : This Day was organized in 25 countries at the same date ( september 14th) through  raising awareness activities such as education on copyright in schools, training of lawyers and judges on copyright enforcement, performances calling for payment of copyright royalties. To date, this Day has been celebrated in 2018,2019 and 2020;   

3. Launching of the pilot phase of the Copyright Friendly Label ( 2019) : The aim of the pilot phase is to have the 1st ever copyright friendly city in Africa ( a city with a copyright compliance above 75%); 

4. Successful engagement with the Africa Union to officially endorse the Africa Copyright and Collective Management Day  as well as the Copyright Friendly Label Initiative as part of its action Plan in 2021.