Ownership of African Queen

How Tuface, Blackface shared ownership of African Queen

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By KAROMI

Tu face's African Queen made history as one of the most successful hits in recent years. Apart from making Face 2 Face, the album in which it appears, sell widely, it also won a number of awards that shot its sleek-faced singer, Innocent Idibia, into further limelight. About four years after the Pan Africanist, pro-womanhood and highly exciting song hit the market, however, it has made another kind of history: it has become about the first piece whose copyright would be shared post-production marked by a controversy that surrounded its authorship.

In the deal, Tu Face and Blackface, his old friend and former partner especially when they existed together as Plantashun Boyz, alongside another reigning musician, Faze, have signed an agreement that they own African Queen's copyright 50-50.

This was arrived at at the instance of Murder Riddims/Kussu Productions, an international brand with which Blackface now has a production and publishing relationship. The agreement came after some underground discussion between Kussu, the musicians and Kennis Music, which released Tuface's African Queen.

In the controversy that heralded the signing, Blackface had raised the alarm that Tuface - vis-a-vis Kennis - had shortchanged him. His claim was (and is) that he is the original writer of the song. He argued that Tuface had denied him credit, just as Kennis had refused to grant him publishing right.

"The agreement was introduced by Murder Riddims Publishing, USA (BMI), which is a subsidiary of Kussu Productions," says the Managing Director of Germany-based Kussu Productions, Diddir Kussu.

"I wanted to be fair to all the parties involved. Therefore, I have convinced Blackface to share half of the ownership-rights with Tuface (50/50 ownership), because I believe that Tuface´s vocals have also contributed to the success of the song. However, it is not always the case with copyright issues. But I still think that it was fair to do that."

The agreement titled Original Song Acknowledgment Agreement, as obtained from Kussu by our correspondent, indicates, "The undersigned hereby acknowledges that the below mentioned original written created and composed in whole or in part, by writer(s) and acknowledge Riddims Publishing and register the composition worldwide under co-ownership basis of 50/50 (writers' share) between Mr. Augustine Ahmedu and Idibia Ujah Innocent."

While Blackface signed first, Tuface signed second, with the endorsement dating March 26, 2008. Indeed, many Nigerian musicians - vis-Ã -vis other players in the entertainment industry need to see the original copy of the agreement - or any other standard one, for that matter - to know how such are structured in standard practices.

Although there are indications that some other issues are still being worked out, none of the parties contacted by our correspondent denied knowledge of the new order. In a telephone interaction, the Chairman of Kennis Group, Mr. Kenny Ogungbe, he said the ownership had truly been shared.

"It is true that Innocent Idibia and Austine Mamadu share the rights as you said," Ogungbe said in a reply to a text message by our correspondent.

Tuface also told our correspondent in a chat that the implication of the agreement was that the two of them wrote the song.

When contacted for an interview at Parish Suites in Festac Town, Lagos, however, Blackface, who was amidst some fans, beamed an air of the euphoria of his new album, Me Music and I, as well as the excitement of having got a share of African Queen.

"When the album was released, I wasn't credited," he said. "And when I asked them the reason I wasn't credited, they said it was a typographical error. They said they were going to correct it. But I insisted that as a writer, I am supposed to get some publishing from that. They didn't have to leave me out.

"But they even later said it was it was Tuface Idibia that wrote the song, and Kenny Publishing that was publishing it."

Like Murder Riddims/Kussu management, Blackface admitted that it was the relative undeveloped culture and structure of the Nigerian music industry that put him on trial, a way of admitting that he too took much for granted.

"Because this is an environment where the music business has not grown that much, people write songs, but do not know they are entitled to the right," he said. Initially, he added, he did not have enough strength to fight the cause. "I just had to tell my company when the song was released, and they have so far pursued it. Right now, we have all the documentation and all evidence that I am a writer of that song."

But what was the initial understanding between him and Tuface? According to him, he wrote the song sometime around 1997/98, at the beckon of an outfit that wanted a song around the African female royalty. But by the time the chap needed the piece, he had not finished work on it. That was why he did not pass it across to the initial 'contractor' again.

"I put the song into my archive initially. But when Tuface wanted to do his album, I said - men, you can add this song to your album.. But my understanding with him was not that he was going to say I am not the writer, and my understanding with him wasn't that I was not going to get publishing money. You have to give the other person what belongs to him," Tu Face maintained.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since African Queen was released. Huge sales have been made directly or otherwise, suggesting that some good cash that might have entered Blackface's pockets had not. Indeed, a layman may wonder what is in it for him again - why does he have to bother his head when African Queen is not that hot on the scene again. Yet, he thinks otherwise. Â Besides, he notes that his Kussu is still exploring every means to get every card onto the table.

"The music is still in the market. It is still being used. The music is being played. As long as it's going to be played for the rest of my life, and the rest of my kids' lives and the rest of my kids' kids' lives, there is a lot in it for me. So, the publishing of that music has got to still go to who the rightful owner is. It doesn't mean because it was put in an album in 2004, and this is 2008, I'm not going to get what is duly mine. It is never too late to do the right thing. It is never too late to get what belongs to you."

Our correspondent, yet, asked Blackface why he did not sing the song himself. "When I was writing that song, I wasn't writing it with the intention that I was going to sing it. There are songs I wrote that time that I was thinking either Two Face or Faze would sing. It is from 2004 that I decided that I must start writing songs that I would sing myself."

A marketing manager in the Kussu family, Michael Mittern, noted that the issue of songwriting should never be taken with levity as it is a major source of good money in other climes.

"Here is the reason why the story behind the copyright issue is important," he said. "Unlike in the Western countries where most of the artistes are making money from songwriting than from performing, in Africa most of the artistes are living from the gigs and show performances. It means African artistes must perform in the public, touring in different cities in order to make a living. But in the western world songwriters are very important in the music business, they may not be good singers or performers but the fact that without a good and well composed song, there can never be a "Hit Song". Songwriters are important in music industry, they live from royalties they receive from performance and mechanical right organisations.

"The performance royalty is paid to the songwriter and publisher when a song is performed live on the radio or film. The mechanical royalty is paid to the recording artist, songwriter, and publisher based on the number of recordings sold.

"An artist like Ne-Yo was making his living only from songwriting before he became a singer/performer, he wrote songs for Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and many others. He was already very rich from the royalties he has received from the past years. Singers such as Withney Houston, Tony Braxton and Britney Spears were making their living from the show-performances and mechanical royalties, because they do not really write their own songs.

"In withney case, songwriter such as Kenneth "Baby Face" Edmond was the one who has made a large fortune out of her career. In short, it is very important that the public in Nigeria as well as people in the entertainment industry understand the value of the creators behind the big successes and realise that they deserve to get paid.

"The worse thing is that, until today, Blackface has not received any dime from one of the greatest songs in African music history of the new generation. The issue here is clear: songwriting is a gift from God and should not be taken for granted."

Posted: at 10-02-2009 03:26 PM (15 years ago) | Newbie

Story! Okay, who sang it?

Posted: at 13-02-2009 03:32 PM (15 years ago) | Upcoming

Compose by 2face they just share experience together when hin dey jot the music dawn ibeg Na 2face music oo no be black face get am if na him hin go sell the music nii we all know how african queen hit market everyone need money na even black face himself no 2 ways na black face musik

Posted: at 15-02-2009 02:15 PM (15 years ago) | Newbie

black face is d original owner

Posted: at 9-04-2009 05:59 PM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

What does it matter who wrote it ,who copy it, who sang it abeg na 2baba make the song get sense and shock the world

Posted: at 28-04-2009 02:53 PM (14 years ago) | Newbie

Royalties produce a significant income for composers.

Posted: at 5-05-2009 09:10 PM (14 years ago) | Upcoming