Zaaki Azzay Laments Poor Copyright Awareness Among Young Artistes
Veteran musician Zaaki Azzay has raised concerns over what he described as widespread ignorance of copyright laws and intellectual property rights among young and upcoming artistes in Nigeria’s music industry.
Speaking in an interview with Pot Pourri, Azzay stressed the need for proper education on royalties, copyright and related issues, noting that many artistes are unaware of how to protect and benefit from their creative works.
“I really think a lot more needs to be done when it comes to educating young artistes about royalties and copyright,” he said. “When I was Vice President of PMAN, these were matters we took very seriously. That responsibility lies with PMAN it is what the association is meant to do. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on these duties, PMAN has been better known for infighting and greed over the years.”
According to him, the lack of basic knowledge about intellectual property remains a major challenge for emerging artistes.
“Some of these artistes don’t even know what intellectual property is or how royalties work. All they focus on is having a hit song, performing at shows and enjoying the celebrity lifestyle,” Azzay said.
He acknowledged that the growth of streaming platforms and increased global attention on Nigerian music have helped improve intellectual property protection to some extent, but said the progress came late for many veterans.
“I didn’t even know what streaming was until M.I brought it to my attention years ago. People were uploading my songs everywhere and making money from them, while I was completely unaware,” he recalled.
Azzay, however, maintained that the knowledge gap should not be blamed solely on artistes. He argued that the government and industry structures have failed in their roles.
“There are laws guiding intellectual property, but the lack of awareness is not entirely the fault of artistes. It is also the fault of the government and organisations responsible for the creative industry, especially PMAN. These lapses are why many young artistes and creatives remain uninformed,” he added.
