CLAUDE:
You’re listening to Limitless Africa, the podcast that looks at how Africa and America can work together for shared prosperity. It’s sponsored by the US Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
Hello, I’m Claude Grunitzky
DIMPHO:
Hello, I’m Dimpho Lekgeu
CLAUDE:
On Limitless Africa today, we look at how African music, art, films and fashion are booming.
DIMPHO:
How keeping control of intellectual property can build a global industry
CLAUDE:
And finally, how commercial concerns are a launch pad for artistic excellence
LIZ LENJO:
The reason Hollywood is Hollywood is because people have proactively asserted their copyright.
DIMPHO:
African music, art, films and fashion are booming like never before. But why is the world only waking up to our creativity now? To dig a little deeper, Claude spoke to the American, Ghanaian and Nigerian writer and producer Taiye Selasi.
CLAUDE:
So what do you think that we can frame around African creativity becoming more popular in America – What do we learn from that? Is it just because the booming African population, the growing cities, um the availability of technology, and the ability to share African culture?
TAIYE SELASI:
No, no, Claude, no, no, it’s not because of any of that. It’s because the content is fire. It’s because it’s so good.
No, honestly, we have to say that out loud… The music is exploding because the music is explosively good. The fashion is is catching on because the designs are excellent. The painters are having their day in the sun because the paintings are beautiful.
We are talking about explosively popular content, explosively sellable, bankable product.
DIMPHO:
And the numbers don’t lie. In Nigeria for example, where Taiye is from, their film industry known as Nollywood is the second-largest employer after agriculture. And the potential is Limitless; in the US, the creative industries generate $1.17 trillion dollars. Imagine if Africa could do the same? And we’re on the right path: our creativity is in huge demand.
TAIYE:
We’re talking about selling things to people who want them because they’re good.
That’s the first thing we have to acknowledge. It’s always been good. what What you were referencing rightly, and I loved what you said, you said, let’s look at why, for example, Afrobeats has become more popular to Americans. Well, let’s also remember that there are a lot of Africans in America, right?
There are lots of Africans in the diaspora. And what they’ve done, what we’ve done as we’ve grown as a demographic is we’ve been able to surface the things that we like and introduce them to our neighbors and friends.
Right. So I believe Afrobeats was always going to be excellent.
And everybody who heard it was always going to love it. Were people in clubs in New York always going to hear it? No, that’s probably because we have so many more diasporans at the forefront of culture in the United States who open the door. once African actors stormed Hollywood and Black Panther did what it did.
That door was open. That portal was open and through it has poured, just as you say, African creativity ushered into American consumption spaces, I believe, by the kind of diasporan bridge, by the internet, by all of the technological and demographic factors that have made this this access possible.
So that’s what I have to say about African creativity. The excellent versions are always going to be be popular because they’re excellent. The question is, as as you’ve as as you’ve rightly noted, what creates the conditions for access? And we’re living in the time, we’re living in an exciting time because those conditions are just ripe.
DIMPHO:
The technology has certainly helped African culture thrive, but it may pose some challenges as well.
For example, some reports suggest that well over 50%of African film and audiovisual revenues are lost to piracy.
Those who copy reap the rewards, not those who create.
So can we stop that from happening?
Claude spoke to one of East Africa’s most formidable entertainment lawyers, Liz Lenjo, she works with intellectual Property – that’s IP for short. He asked her to explain what IP is – She started off by saying what we often get wrong.
LIZ:
All right so you know the most common misconception is that IP protects ideas but it protects the expression of this idea.
because ideas are very raw, you know, um in terms of you and I can have the same idea. We can have an idea to draw a giraffe, right? But how I draw the giraffe versus how you draw the giraffe will be different. So it’s the expression of it.
Simply put, IP are creations of the mind and IP law comes into turn these creations of the mind into assets.
DIMPHO:
Right, so IP law allows a creator to claim ownership over the expression of their idea. It legally prevents others from using it without permission or compensation. So what advice would Liz give to young creatives trying to protect their IP?
LIZ:
All right. say first, believe in your creativity. When you create, believe in the process.
Believe in your product
Fiercely protect your copyright. You only make money if you fiercely protect it as well. If you assert your ownership, if you see someone using it the wrong way or in a way that you you didn’t give permission or needed consent, go after that person.
And then i would say also lastly protect your intellectual property. Register, it’s not an exercise in futility. It’s you asserting your ownership it’s similar to you buying a piece of land and getting a title deed the same thing do with your intellectual property register it and get your certificate.
CLAUDE:
And what advice would you give to a creative who’s discovered his idea has been copied?
LIZ:
Number one, Don’t panic.
Number two don’t engage on social media. Please don’t fight on social media the minute you fight on social media you get rid of any good will your lawyer will have to negotiate for you.
So, you know, in light of A, don’t panic, and B, do not engage. Three, look for a lawyer. That’s what you should do…
CLAUDE:
What should you do if you can’t afford a lawyer – a lot of artists are broke?
LIZ:
I always say, honesty is the best policy. lawyers are also humans right if you call Liz right now you call me and say Liz I have this issue there are so many solutions so our hands are not tied.
CLAUDE:
You spent quite a lot of time in the U.S. studying. Can you tell us about the American approach and how you were able to become a better IP lawyer from that? I mean, does the African context change our attitudes towards IP and how it’s enforced? I mean, for example, in China, they’re much more relaxed about IP. So I would love to hear what you learned in the US and how you’ve adapted that to the Kenyan slash African context.
LIZ:
Yeah all right so in the U.S. I’ve had the privilege of seeing copyright work. The reason Hollywood is Hollywood is because people have proactively asserted their copyright.
The artists are always vigilant and quick to send what we call the takedown notices.
Because if you’re making money, I must be making money.
But I think for me the U.S. just seeing you know this proactivity by artists, their fearlessness. It’s the one thing that I’m trying to get um more African artists to embrace. Africans Kenyans tend to be very non-litigious.
They are afraid of court. They are afraid of what they call bad blood.
And I speak about the Kenyan context especially. You’ll find a Kenyan artist saying, oh, too much drama. And I say, but at the end of the day, you’re going home to an empty plate. How about you fight this out, and go home with something worth, you know, telling a story about.
DIMPHO:
Liz learnt about the importance of protecting her IP the hard way, before she even entered the legal profession. She explained what happened.
LIZ:
My journey has been interesting. I always dreamt of being in Hollywood. I wanted to be an artist, performer, you know, the whole shebang
But of course, you know, especially with like African parents, you know, they’re always very sceptical about Hollywood. parents did not see value in entertainment, right?
So, of course, when I went to uni, I had that flexibility to try out new things. So we had a beauty pageant. So I was crowned the beauty pageant winner. With that title I did acting, I did some singing, and during that period, I had two instances where I had legal issues.
And the first instance was where an image of mine was used by a brand I didn’t want to associate with. And I tried to shop around for a lawyer and I couldn’t find a lawyer. For me, it was an awakening that I needed to be the lawyer that I couldn’t find.
I appreciate the fact that creatives put in a lot of time and money and investment to create the beautiful stuff we watch and move us to tears or make us happy and I was like you know what I want to be part of that protection mechanism and the business mechanism behind the arts in Africa so that’s how I became an IP and entertainment lawyer.
DIMPHO:
The message from Liz is clear: protect your IP as soon as possible.
But back to Claude and writer and TV producer Taiye Selasi. She thinks that once you look after commercial concerns, you can concentrate on what really matters.
CLAUDE:
Let me ask you about IP, which we talk about quite often on Limitless Africa. Can you tell me how artists should protect their intellectual property? I mean, have you personally had any bad experiences?
TAIYE:
Sure, sure. I think every writer in particular has had the moment where they’ve sent something out and then sometime later they see something and you think, the person who created this other thing definitely was exposed to the thing that I did. But, you know, I take a particular view.
There is this wonderful… phrase in self-reliance, which i I’m going to paraphrase, but it essentially says to believe that what is true for you is true for all men. This is genius.
I come back to this a lot because anybody working at the height of their creative powers should not expect to be the only one with the idea. What is true for you is true for all men. That is genius means you are tapped in to a wellspring, a well, and others are tapped into it too.
I know that this is a very non-capitalist way to answer a question about IP, but the reason I start there is to say everything that I have almost created, I do not fully own.
And I remind myself of that. The things that I own are the things that I got across the line, not the half ideas, not the drafts, not the treatments, the things that I got over the line. And so I always check with myself.
Once an idea has taken shape and I’ve invested my capital, which is my time and my my ideation into that idea, once I believe I own it, yes, I always register. Simple step that I that i advise all writers to do: to register their work.
But from there, the question becomes, which of these ideas, again, back to the start-up question, which of our products are we going to push to market first? Where am I going to put my time and energy?
But when I look at the projects that I’ve worked, that I’m working on, I have an agent, they are all ascribed to me and, you know, registered with the Library of Congress and so forth. But I think the main thing that I ask myself is which of these projects am I willing to invest my time, my energy, my life force in getting across the line?
And that’s a different kind of IP. You know, those are your days on Earth that you are investing in a project.
But the real work starts after that. That the real work is the advocacy, the negotiation, the sales, the reaching out to everybody you know to raise the resources you need, the phone calls, the blind calls, the emails, the walking up to people at cocktail parties who don’t know you and can I give you my script to read, the hustle.
You know they say the dream is free, the hustle is sold separately.
It doesn’t cost a lot to register your idea online, but it can cost you everything to bring it into the world.
DIMPHO:
African creatives need to be ready when the international publishing houses, streaming platforms or agents come knocking. They need to register their intellectual property to benefit from their work. It’s only then that our creative industries as a whole can grow. And with it, our potential is Limitless.
CLAUDE:
Thank you for listening to Limitless Africa, the podcast that looks at how Africa and America can work together for shared prosperity. It’s sponsored by the US Department of State and the Seenfire Foundation.
