By Ruth Ononye

The Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte (MCSN) has warned the general public and all those who exploit music in their businesses to be very careful not to pay imposters for licence for the use of music. The warning, the Society said, is necessary now because there is evidence that a certain organisation and individuals are taking advantage of unsuspecting users of music in the name of granting them licence, which they have no authority or approval to so do.

MCSN stated that this organisation’s licence to operate as a Collective Management Organisation (CMO) expired in 2018 when its licence was suspended and eventually expired “by effluxion of time.”

Aside from the expiration of the licence, the Federal High Court on March 25, 2020, in a judgment by Justice Saidu, ordered the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to strike off the name of the organisation from the companies register in Nigeria.
 
The Court of Appeal, on July 6, 2026, in a unanimous decision, affirmed the ruling of the Federal High Court and stated clearly that the orghanisation 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.”

MCSN, therefore, warned the public not to pay any money to the defunct Society as doing so will amount to sheer waste of resources as 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 stations, telcos, digital and online platforms and any other entity  that exploit music for its business without a licence from  it (MCSN).