Over several weeks span the  DHGOLDEN Seminar came off again on July 29th, 2021.This is a seminar which focuses on  songwriter, composer and performer’s repertoire available to worldwide audiences, and assisting them deriving maximum benefits from their intellectual property rights and gaining international recognition for their creations. In short, it focuses on diverse areas of music not only in Ghana but worldwide with a deeper understanding of issues affecting and to the artist, royalties, distribution and music in our age today and in general. Speakers at seminar were Diana Hopeson, Manager for GHMusic Publishing & Management and Dr. Aurelia J. Schultz, Counsel in the Policy & International Affairs Office at the United States Copyright Office.

Dr. Schultz’s who also Chaired the Seminar gave a brief about the US Copyright and an update of The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MECHANICAL LICENSING COLLECTIVE (THE MLC). The MLC is a nonprofit organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office pursuant to the historic Music Modernization Act of 2018.


In January 2021, The (The MECHANICAL LICENSING COLLECTIVE (THE MLC) MLC began administering blanket mechanical licenses to eligible streaming and download services (digital service providers or DSPs) in the United States. The MLC will then collect the royalties due under those licenses from the DSPs and pay songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers.

 

The MLC has built a publicly accessible musical works database, as well as a portal that creators and music publishers can use to submit and maintain their musical works data. These tools will help ensure that creators and music publishers are paid properly.

In March 2020, It can be recalled that Dr. Schultz visited Ghana from which she introduced the (The MECHANICAL LICENSING COLLECTIVE (THE MLC) to Ghanaian musicians. She explained very key details and gave out website links to participants and showed them interest areas to focus on to gain deeper under understanding.

 

Mrs. Diana Hopeson who doubled as the anchor of the Seminar spoke on the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) which is administered by the IFPI and its importance to Sound Recording (SR) owners and Publishers. “The Sub-Saharan Africa office was set up in July, 2020 to oversee implementation of IFPI’s policy agenda for recorded music business across the forty-six (46) countries in the region” .She mentioned, and that the headquarters can be located in Kenya with the Regional Director been Angela Ndambuki. Mrs. Hopeson also gave out website addresses for participants to visit for more info.

 

On the day ,another Special Guest by name  Ann Chaitovit who is the Senior Attorney (Copyright) Office of Policy and International affairs. United States Patent and Trademark office also made some few reservations. Participants were drawn from the Northern, Ashanti, Central and Greater ACCRA. Artists like Helena Rhabbles, Samuel Akrasi, Awusi and Haile Marshall were present amongst others.

 

Further to this, the last DHGOLDEN Seminar will be held this Monday 30th August, 2021 at 4:00pm GMT to mark the conclusion of the DHGOLDEN Celebration activities. The Guest Speaker for tomorrow’s Seminar is Renald Boyd, CO Founder and Co CEO of Emergence Music. He will be speaking on Digital Distribution. To participate, click on the Flyer to register.


 


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