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  /  Media & Entertainment Law   /  Music Catalogue And Its Benefits To Tanzanian Artists.

Music Catalogue And Its Benefits To Tanzanian Artists.

The compilation of songs of an Artist makes a Music Catalogue.This is an Intellectual property made asset whose right may be held by the Artist either through a legal entity, independently or in partnership.

The current trend in the Entertainment industry as seen by Top musicians and Labels from the world is selling their catalogues and opening business as being investors for these catalogues. This is due to various reasons such as retirement, investment purposes, estate planning and many more. This has been beneficial for both Artist and the Investor/Buyer.

Music Catalogues help an artist to show case their talent in a much broader way. In this case, the catalogue maybe sold worldwide depending on their investors. The catalogue lasts for a long period of time, years and years for the future generation to use the music. This habit has already seen by American Musicians such as Taylor swift, Shakira etc and it is important that it is well grasped in Tanzania as well.

The value of a music catalogue can be determined through; the list of song/composition titles with their respective publication dates;Tax returns of the person or entity receiving the royalties for five to seven years preceding the valuation date; Annual royalty statements as collected and documented by performing rights organizations for five to seven years preceding the valuation date;Relevant agreements (e.g., licensing, publishing, etc.); and Record contracts, including details of any advances. However, it is important for Artists to note that if past royalties have not been accurately captured and paid, the worth of the copyrights held within the music catalog may be undervalued.

Benefits of having a music catalogue as a Tanzanian Artist are as follows.

The Artist has copyrights over his product(s). Regardless of the fact that the catalogue may be sold to the most influential person in the world or Investor, it is within Entertainment law that the Artist will continue having decisions they can make concerning the catalogue, and they still get benefits when their music is played, as well as make their own adjustments to it as well. Some artists are facing problems with knowing their copyrights when they make their own work, and that is a problem that the Tanzania music industry is currently facing which is why it is better to register through the Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA) to learn and understand the copyright process so that the process of selling a music catalogue won’t be hard.

Financially good on both ends. The investor and the artist will make quite a good amount of money if the catalogue is taken care of well. The artist can earn up to 16% of the money that was made from the catalogue. The investor is also able to see how they used their money to make the work of the artist better, so that they are able to generate more money than the artist. Since the catalogue will be present for many years and can be used for a lot of times, the artist will continue earning money from their work being played on local broadcasting stations and digital platforms. A perfect example would be Mariah Carey “All I Want for Christmas” in the Christmas season that is played over a million times; she gets paid a lot of money and with the growth of social media, the social apps helps an artist to grow when music is being played which contributes to their overall annual payments.

Ensures availability of the artists product. Catalogues cannot be destroyed; they will remain ancient till the end of time. Artists will have access to their products even for years to come and as said before the future generation will be listening to their work together with the continued payments (royalties) their families will still be accessing it as well.

One may note that selling music catalogues started again as a trend due to the corona effect and staying at home , many Artists have decided to sell their work so that can earn money.

Music catalogues are the next deal and as seen in the Entertainment industry and with the current trends, it is also better for Tanzanian musicians/Artists to dive into the wave and start marketing their work as soon as possible. Other sectors such as the Banking and Financial sector should reconsider this trend by recognizing music catalogues as an asset of value as well.

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