Namibia: NASCAM CEO wants copyright law amendments

John Max spoke to Music In Africa after his appointment on the regional executive board of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) last week.

He said although the digital space had helped boost revenues for artists, the Internet had proved problematic in terms of copyright protection.

“The CISAC nomination came at a time that we needed to review several copyright resolutions, current copyright and neighbouring rights, protection acts and regulations as well as treaties and conventions,” he said.

“A review would accommodate the current situation where music and all other copyright works are easily accessible through different digital platforms. This means that we need to encourage our government and those in authority to amend their copyright laws.”

Max said he believed NASCAM was on the right path in managing the rights of its members and those of its affiliate collective management organisations (CMOs). He said he wanted all NASCAM members to benefit from digital platforms that used their music.

Max added that he wanted to use his new position on the CISAC regional board to champion the creation of a conventional music database for the African region and help implement of a single licensing system.

“African music is all over the continent and beyond but we cannot access it easily because it's not available on our CMO database,” he said. “We have signed reciprocal representative agreements with sister CMOs, and if we do not have a standard system that links us as a continent, then we are not doing justice to the songwriters and composers whom we represent.”

Max is serving on the CISAC board for a second time. He was previously appointed to the board between 2014 and 2016.