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Developing The African Creative Economy - Intellectual Property & The African Artist

Dayo Ogunyemi
Dayo Ogunyemi

Presentation on Artists, Intellectual Property and Developing Africa\'s Creative Economy. Delivered in Kigali, 2006.

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THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CREATIVE ECONOMY FOR DEVELOPMENT Developing the Creative Economy: Technology, Intellectual Property and Contracts and the African Artist Presentation Kigali, Rwanda 7 August, 2006 Dayo Ogunyemi Attorney and Consultant CAG/EMC Matrix dayo@counseladvisory.com
Is there African IP? Is it worth anything? Ask Richard Branson (Virgin Records), Clive Calder (Jive Records). They built billion dollar empires based in large part on African music Music: Solomon Linda (Mbube aka The Lion sleeps tonight), Miriam Makeba, ET Mensah, Franco, Fela Kuti, Youssou NDour Literature: Ngugi wa Thiongo, Wole Soyinka, Bessie Head, Nurudinn Farah, Naguib Mahfouz, Nadine Gordimer Film: Ousmane Sembene, Abdourahman Sissoko
Is there African IP? Is it worth anything? Just these few examples show that Africans have been creating world-class content for more than four decades. Yet, African companies account for less than 1% of global music and publishing industries revenues. Africa may have world-class musicians and writers but the knowledge industries that should nurture and sustain them leave much to be desired.
Why the focus on the Creative Economy? In Africa, longstanding skepticism on the part of business and government about artistic & cultural expression constituting an important economic activity Artists and communities also often skeptical or conflicted about utilizing their artistic or cultural assets for economic gain Historically, the businesses that have sought to extract value from African art & culture have often done so in an exploitative and inequitable manner
Why the focus on the Creative Economy? Globally, the knowledge industries have driven much of recent economic growth Information and knowledge industries offer major opportunities for African economic development Africa remains poor, at least partly, because it has not been able to leverage information and knowledge for its development
What has changed? The value chain of a music or film: Capturing the talent or creativity into some reproducible form Marketing, Distributing and Selling that product Technology has worked in two ways to change the value change: Democratizing production - lower cost of producing technically competent music, movies, etc. Democratizing access to global markets - anyone with compelling content can access vast numbers of consumers worldwide in unprecedented ways
Not Yet Utopia Difficulties ensuring affordable and equitable access to technology & communication tools (e.g. internet), particularly between urban and rural areas Access to markets isnt the same thing as sales and revenue from those markets - still a lot of hard work necessary to promote and market effectively Still, the ease of producing creative goods and accessing new markets is unparalleled But there is a business and legal context that artists must understand
Copyrights and Contracts Intellectual property laws, especially copyright, protect the creative output that makes up the product Contracts stipulate the terms and conditions under which these products are financed, distributed and sold Copyrights and contracts are the lifeblood of the creative industry Historical disadvantage that artists worldwide have had negotiating contracts is infinitely multiplied when it comes to African artists
The rise of the creative entrepreneur Artists need to be proactive in pursuing their careers, understand and participate in the ways in which technology, IP, and contracts are resulting in evolving norms Only in this way can they play the prime role they ought to in the creative economy Support needs to be provided in these critical areas by the legal profession, governments, international public organizations, NGOs and civil society

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Developing The African Creative Economy - Intellectual Property & The African Artist

  • 1. THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CREATIVE ECONOMY FOR DEVELOPMENT Developing the Creative Economy: Technology, Intellectual Property and Contracts and the African Artist Presentation Kigali, Rwanda 7 August, 2006 Dayo Ogunyemi Attorney and Consultant CAG/EMC Matrix dayo@counseladvisory.com
  • 2. Is there African IP? Is it worth anything? Ask Richard Branson (Virgin Records), Clive Calder (Jive Records). They built billion dollar empires based in large part on African music Music: Solomon Linda (Mbube aka The Lion sleeps tonight), Miriam Makeba, ET Mensah, Franco, Fela Kuti, Youssou NDour Literature: Ngugi wa Thiongo, Wole Soyinka, Bessie Head, Nurudinn Farah, Naguib Mahfouz, Nadine Gordimer Film: Ousmane Sembene, Abdourahman Sissoko
  • 3. Is there African IP? Is it worth anything? Just these few examples show that Africans have been creating world-class content for more than four decades. Yet, African companies account for less than 1% of global music and publishing industries revenues. Africa may have world-class musicians and writers but the knowledge industries that should nurture and sustain them leave much to be desired.
  • 4. Why the focus on the Creative Economy? In Africa, longstanding skepticism on the part of business and government about artistic & cultural expression constituting an important economic activity Artists and communities also often skeptical or conflicted about utilizing their artistic or cultural assets for economic gain Historically, the businesses that have sought to extract value from African art & culture have often done so in an exploitative and inequitable manner
  • 5. Why the focus on the Creative Economy? Globally, the knowledge industries have driven much of recent economic growth Information and knowledge industries offer major opportunities for African economic development Africa remains poor, at least partly, because it has not been able to leverage information and knowledge for its development
  • 6. What has changed? The value chain of a music or film: Capturing the talent or creativity into some reproducible form Marketing, Distributing and Selling that product Technology has worked in two ways to change the value change: Democratizing production - lower cost of producing technically competent music, movies, etc. Democratizing access to global markets - anyone with compelling content can access vast numbers of consumers worldwide in unprecedented ways
  • 7. Not Yet Utopia Difficulties ensuring affordable and equitable access to technology & communication tools (e.g. internet), particularly between urban and rural areas Access to markets isnt the same thing as sales and revenue from those markets - still a lot of hard work necessary to promote and market effectively Still, the ease of producing creative goods and accessing new markets is unparalleled But there is a business and legal context that artists must understand
  • 8. Copyrights and Contracts Intellectual property laws, especially copyright, protect the creative output that makes up the product Contracts stipulate the terms and conditions under which these products are financed, distributed and sold Copyrights and contracts are the lifeblood of the creative industry Historical disadvantage that artists worldwide have had negotiating contracts is infinitely multiplied when it comes to African artists
  • 9. The rise of the creative entrepreneur Artists need to be proactive in pursuing their careers, understand and participate in the ways in which technology, IP, and contracts are resulting in evolving norms Only in this way can they play the prime role they ought to in the creative economy Support needs to be provided in these critical areas by the legal profession, governments, international public organizations, NGOs and civil society