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The Musical Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd/Gte (MCSN) has called on Nigerians, most especially, those who use musical works in their businesses to desist from paying impostors for the use of such music.
According to the Society, the warning is necessary because “there is evidence that a certain organisation and individuals are defrauding unsuspecting users of music in the name of granting them licences for which they do not have authority or approval.”
MCSN, however, alleged that certain individuals are hiding under the platform of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) to illegally collect money from users of music in the name of granting them licences.
In a statement released by MCSN, the CMO said, “COSON’s licence to operate as a Collective Management Organization (CMO) has expired since 2018 when it (the licence) was suspended, and eventually expired by effluxion of time.
“Aside the expiration of the licence, the Federal High Court on March 25, 2020 in a judgment by the Honourable Justice Saidu ordered the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to strike out the name of COSON from its register.”
The government approved CMO added that the judgment and consequential order of the court of June 24, 2020 refusing the stay of execution of the judgment are still subsisting.
“The Federal High Court had also on June 21, 2021 ruled that COSON has no approval or licence to operate as a CMO, a ruling that COSON went on to challenge at the Court of Appeal.
“The Court of Appeal on July 6, 2026 in a unanimous decision affirmed the ruling of the Federal High Court and stated clearly that COSON had no licence in the first place before coming to court to seek injunction.
“Only an existing and valid licence could be revoked and that there was no basis for granting an injunction restraining the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) from revoking a licence that no longer existed.”
Based on the court judgments, MCSN has therefore warned users of music not to pay any money to COSON, as doing so will amount to sheer waste of resources.
“MCSN, being the only approved Society to licence musical works for exploitation, will come after any hotel, lounge, event centre, cinema, discotheque, bar, radio and television station, telecoms, digital and online platform, and any other entity that exploits music for its business without a licence from it,” the statement concluded.
