With the nation beginning to recover from the shocking death of one of the nation’s best music talents, Moses Nakintije Ssekibogo, better known as Mowzey Radio, critical questions linger around what should be done to protect his musical works, especially for the commercial benefit of his kith and kin.
Perhaps more critical for the entire local music fraternity, is the question of what should musicians and other artists do when they are still active to ensure their works continue to benefit them and their loved ones in the event of demise.
At the heart of this conversation, is the issue of copyright.
But what is copyright and what does it have to do with music?
Music in Uganda is protected under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2006. The law protects authors, composers, computer programmers, website designers, software developers, creators of multimedia content and all other types of creators for their literary, artistic, scientific, dramatic creations which are referred to as “works