CISAC, Cape Verde government and SCM launch “Copyright Friendly” label at international forum
Developing partnerships that encompass collective management, creators, governments, users and other stakeholders is a priority for advancing African royalty collections. This has included CISAC joining forces with ARIPO and OAPI in 2017 as well as the recent signing of approximately 30 reciprocal agreements between authors’ rights societies at the CISAC Regional African Committee in Tunisia.
On September 14th each year, the African Copyright and Collective Management Day brings CISAC Africa members together for events to draw attention to the contributions creators and copyright has to the lives of millions across the continent.
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The celebrations started this year in Cape Verde with the International Forum on Creative Industries, Copyright and Cultural Tourism. The forum was organised by the Cabo Verde government (Prime Minister Office, Ministry of Culture and Creative Industries, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Tourism and Transportation) in collaboration with CISAC and with the help from member society SCM.
Cape Verde Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva drew attention to why the government joined the forum, “We must change the narrative and attitude towards copyright…The creative industries, with the digital economy, have a huge market potential in Africa internally and externally. We must be aware that culture is not free. It can create income and employment if developed in a structured environment that provides and recognises its economic value”.
The forum debuted the “Copyright Friendly” label for cities and users. The label is a tool to enhance and foster copyright compliance as an economic added value to users, cities and countries. Users that comply with paying royalties may request and be granted the label in order to position themselves as “copyright friendly”, boosting attractiveness, trust and their relationship with creators.
Cape Verde is piloting the programme. The label is managed by a steering committee including the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism and Transportation, the mayor of the city of Sal and municipalities as well as SCM in order to create a system that encourages respecting copyright and responsible tourism.
The forum included five panels, including focuses on the CISAC online MOOC “Exploring Copyright”, the contributions of a music festival to local economy and the socioeconomic development for CCIs (creative and cultural industries).