CISAC DG’s China visit encourages Asia-Pacific and Africa collaboration, best practice and training

Expanding international cooperation, best practice exchange and technical training were among key themes of CISAC DG Gadi Oron’s visit to China, including a keynote speech at the Forum on Sino-African Copyright Cooperation in Chengdu. 

The mission was one of several events organised by China authorities and supported by CISAC, following an invitation to CISAC’s DG from National China Copyright Administration (NCAC) Vice Minister Zhang Jianchun.

The visit also included a meeting with Vice Minister Zhang and senior Chinese copyright officials, coinciding with celebrations of the 30th anniversary of China’s music society, MCSC.

The CISAC DG’s speech covered details of CISAC’s global activities, focusing in particular on developing and growing digital royalty collections in Asia-Pacific and Africa.

CISAC’s unique international community enables it to facilitate collaboration and training among its network of societies, Oron said. CISAC provides technical cooperation, best practice exchange, professional rules that ensure trust and integrity and collaboration in advocacy efforts.

“This Sino-African symposium is based on ideals we support and live by in our daily work. We bring together the expertise and experiences of our members in different regions and countries.”

Development of the digital market in Africa, just as has been achieved in Asia, is the big priority, Oron said. The potential for revenue growth is evident in several factors: the influence of African art and culture internationally, the huge share of the demographic under 25, and the growth in digital consumption across the region.

Africa should see collections grow in a similar way to what has been seen in China in the last decade. 

“Our challenge is to help our African societies to unlock that growth potential. And we believe that China has a valuable role to play in that mission.”

The full text of Gadi Oron’s Forum on Sino-African Copyright Cooperation keynote speech is here.

Reciprocal agreements and training

China’s music society MCSC has signed reciprocal agreements with a delegation of heads of Africa societies who visited Chengdu for a training seminar.

The seminar, coinciding with the Chengdu forum, brought together heads and senior executives of Africa and Asia CMOs, with the overall objective of best practice exchanges to develop the digital market for creators.

The training, involving MCSC, MACA and KOMCA, as well as CISAC, included sessions on broadcast licensing, distributions, governance, events licensing, documentation, relations with DSPs and the recently-launched data exchange system GDSDX.

Separately Oron delivered a keynote speech at the 2023 International Copyright Forum, which is reported here.