The General Council (Board) of the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd/Gte (MCSN) has appointed Dr. Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye, MFR, popularly known as King Sunny Ade as the Honourary President of the Society.
The appointment of KSA as the President of MCSN coincides with the rollout of the Society’s GoCreate App for the monitoring and reporting of the use of music on all platforms (digital, online and offline) within the territory of Nigeria.
King Sunny Ade was a past Chairman of the Board of the Society during the turbulent period when MCSN was struggling to be approved or licensed as a collecting society (now Collective Management Organisation). As Chairman, KSA led several delegations of MCSN to meet with Ministers and top Government functionaries to press for the recognition of MCSN as a collecting society.
KSA also led MCSN through series of serious legal battles for the respect and defence of the rights musicians. Many of the cases have now come out in favour of MCSN, even up to the Supreme Court.
The appointment was apparently in recognition and appreciation of the past leadership duties of King Sunny Ade to MCSN.
In his new role, the King of World Beat as King Sunny Ade is also known, is expected to act as the Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Society opening more doors of opportunities for the Society by leveraging on his wide experience and contacts around the world for the benefit of the Society and its affiliates.
MCSN is also expected to leverage on the vast experience and network of King Sunny Ade in pushing the cause of the Society.
It would be recalled that MCSN launched the GoCreate App for the monitoring, tracking and reporting of the use of musical works and sound recordings on all platforms sometime in the third quarter of 2020, in the peak of the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic. The App has successfully undergone series of test run and is now going live as the first African digital tool to assist Collective Management Organisations in the onerous task of monitoring, tracking, analyzing and accurate reporting of the use of music for equitable distribution of royalties to interested parties, who are members and affiliates of MCSN.
With the full deployment of the GoCreate App, the days of royalty distribution using human perception would become a thing of the past, while the regularity of the exercise would become frequent, as opposed to once in a year or many years as had happened in the past.
Speaking about these two important developments, the Chief Executive Officer of MCSN, Mr. Mayo Ayilaran, stated that the potentials of MCSN is gradually being revealed to the Nigerian Music and entertainment industry, particularly the creative sector. With time, it is certain that the locust years of the Nigerian music industry would be fully restored.
Mr. Ayilaran said further that this amazing APP is now available to all Artists, Record Labels, Producers, Writers, Composers and Publishers who are registered with us at the MUSICAL COPYRIGHT SOCIETY OF NIGERIA (MCSN).
He concluded that those who are not yet members are invited to download the “Gocreate Africa” APP now on Google Play Store and APP Store or Web through www.gocreateafrica.app to register and upload their music to enable proper monitoring and collection and distribution of their Royalties.
The last occupant of the position of the President of MCSN was the late Ambassador, Chief Segun Olusola, mni, OFR.
King Sunny Ade would formally be inaugurated as MCSN’s President on a date to be soon announced.