Mangochi-based musician, Assante Emment
* I now know that the society is vital in protecting artists, I did not register my music with the society because I was not aware that I needed to do so
* With this information, I will take action — the meeting was an eye opener to me—Mangochi-based musician, Asante Emment, populary known as Achakongwe
By Alice Ndunya, MANA
Copyright Society of Malawi (COSOMA) has engaged muscians, the media and other stakeholders in the Eastern Region districts to raise awareness on its mandate on copyright proptection, licensing, registration, membership and distribution of loyalties in a bid to protect artistic creative works from unlawful copyrighters.
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COSOMA communication officer, Catherine Mitungwi said the meeting at Liwonde in Machinga yesterday was meant to strengthen collaboration with music artists, raise public awareness on the societiy’s activities while addressing misconceptions surrounding COSOMA’s mandate.
One of the participants, Mangochi-based musician, Asante Emment — populary known as Achakongwe — said the meeting was ideal as it informed her on COSOMA’s role in protecting artists from unlawful copyrights and other bad trends in the music industyry that leave alot to be desired among established and upcoming music artists in Malawi.
“I now know that the society is vital in protecting artists, I did not register my music with the society because I was not aware that I needed to do so. With this information, I will take action — the meeting was an eye opener to me,” said Asante Emment, who has been in the music career since 2013 but not yet registered with the COSOMA.
Holice Kalembo
Musicians Union of Malawi (MUM) secretary for Zomba Chapter, Holice Kalembo hailed COSOMA for engaging music artists on its awareness programmes, saying:
“We are looking forward to having these kinds of meetings with COSOMA to ensure brighter future for the music and art industry.
Mitungwi
The COSOMA communication officer, Mitungwi emphasised that engaging the stakeholders to discuss their mandate “is essential because it propvided an opportunity to furnish artists with imprtant information that helps in protecting artistic creative works from unlawful copyrighters while fostering innovative progress for the artists”.
COSOMA officials made presentations on copyright protection & licensing, registration & membership, distribution of loyalties and ways of promoting innovation among artists.
“We organised this meeting to fill in the information gap that exists on COSOMA’s mandate, engaged stakeholders to create a well-informed public and to strengthen our relationship with artists,” said Mitungwi.
COSOMA has over 18,000 registered members across the country ranging from muscians to writers and visual artists — and in October 2024, it distributed loyalties amounting to K1 billion in total, with approximately 50 members receiving not less than K1 million each.
Last month, Malawi’s creative practitioners — musicians, filmmakers, writers, visual artists, designers, performers and other cultural and creative industry players — distributed a petition for the public to vote for citing that they are directly affected by two new Bills that they deem to have been “unilaterally drafted and passed by Parliament in February 2025, without any consultation”.
They maintained that the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Companies, Registrations & Intellectual Property Centre Bill, 2025, “strip the COSOMA of its statutory mandate and transfer copyright enforcement to a new entity that is not aligned with the sector”.
“We’re calling on the President to withhold assent and initiate inclusive redrafting of the Bills,” says the petition 🔗 https://www.change.org/Withhold_Assent_To_Malawi_Copyright_Bills that was been circulated in the public space for stakeholders to sign in solidarity.
“Let’s protect Malawi’s creative economy — and make sure no law is made for us without us,” says the appeal statement — emphasising that by unilaterally drafting and passed by Parliament “without any consultation violates the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, which guarantees citizen participation in policy and law-making processes”.—Editing & additional reporting by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express
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