Royalty collection societies CISAC and ARIPO have teamed up to help boost the growth of the creative sector in Africa.
CISAC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ARIPO (African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation) aimed at paving the way for joint projects on strengthening copyright, technical exchange, education and training of organisations collecting revenues for creators.
Royalty collections for creators in the region, by CISAC member societies and across multiple repertoires, increased 14.9% in 2015 to US$68.6 million, according to CISAC’s 2016 Global Collections Report. However, this represents less than 1% of global collections, which total US$9.5 billion.
According to a recent study, Africa’s creative and cultural industries are worth US$58bn, employing 2.4 million people. With relatively low levels of Internet penetration and challenging conditions for rights holders in some countries, the two organisations believe there is ‘huge potential for further growth’.
CISAC director general Gadi Oron said: “In today’s economy, creators and creative industries are a huge driver of growth and jobs, and this is only going to escalate in the future. African governments, like their counterparts globally, are realising that to nurture this potential, more actions are needed to promote and protect creators’ rights.
“We look forward to a close collaboration with ARIPO, including opportunities for research that can demonstrate the huge economic benefits of creative industries in Africa. Today’s agreement is a positive forward step, bringing together two hubs of international expertise to work on improving the environment for the creative sector.”
