Over yesterday, Uganda Musicians under their Federation , Uganda National Musician Federation ( UNMF) reached out to parilament of Uganda over copyright law.
Musicians led by their UNMF president Eddy Kenzo requested the Parliament accelerate the process of amending copyright laws so that Musicians can fairly earn from their work.
For a long time , Musicians have challenged the government about the copyright law, claiming that is not operating effectively and Musicians are not benefiting from their art and people to work upon are those in Parliament but unfortunately have slowed to work on it.
In the petition presented by Phiona Nyamutoro (Female Youth Representative to Parliament), the musicians want parliament to revise charges for caller tunes and impose strict measures against broadcasters who use pirated content because it apparently undermines the intellectual property rights of artists.
The petitioners recommend ‘a fine of not less than 5 million shillings to be paid by the person who is convicted of infringing the copyright of an artist’.
The musicians have also asked that broadcasters dedicate 90% of airtime to Ugandan music as a way of promoting local content and supporting the development of the music industry in the country.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa said telecom companies are exploiting musicians by giving them less or nothing for using their songs as caller tunes and that the amendment is necessary if the exploitation is to be stopped.
Last year, parliament granted leave to Mawokota North legislator Hon. Hillary Kiyaga (Hilderman) to introduce the copyright and neighboring rights act amendment bill. After conducting several consultations on the matter, the bill was forwarded to the Uganda Law Reform Commission and has never been heard of again.
When asked to comment on the matter, the attorney general told parliament on October 4th that they have been working on the amendment of the copyright law. He, however, welcomed the petition by the musicians and said he would liaise with them to work on the amendment.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayeebwa forwarded the petition to the parliamentary committee on ICT and to the attorney general. The committee on ICT is expected to report back to parliament within the next 30 days.
