Nicklas Molinder is an established Swedish pop music songwriter and producer. He is the co-founder of the Music Rights Awareness organisation whose aim is perfectly illustrated in the name of his organisation. Here is a review of a talk/workshop with music creators in Rwanda.

1. 6/28/2016 Music rights awareness raises new hope against infringement - The New Times | Rwanda
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Music rights awareness raises new
hope against infringement
By: MOSES OPOBO
PUBLISHED: June 25, 2016 Entertainment  Print  Email
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Mighty Popo contributes to the discussions at the forum last weekend. (Moses Opobo)

2. 6/28/2016 Music rights awareness raises new hope against infringement - The New Times | Rwanda
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Artists in new drive to enhance creativity
Music creators have a big responsibility in taking care of their own rights, short
of which they should not complain to the companies and organisations that
they work for of measly pay, Niclas Molinder, the founder of the Music Rights
Awareness Foundation has said.
Molinder was speaking at a pre-study workshop in Kigali last weekend. The
workshop, organised by the Rwanda Arts Initiative (RAI) and the Rwanda
Society of Authors in partnership with the Music Rights Awareness Foundation,
sought to raise awareness on music rights in Rwanda and to get an
understanding of the current situation and needs in the African music industry,
especially within the advent of the digital era.
The workshop was informed, among others, by international experts from
Sweden, the UK, Malawi and Tanzania.
According to Molinder, the speci c goal of the project is to enable, through
education and support, more individuals to take control of their music rights
and be able to live on their music regardless of economic, geographical and
cultural conditions:
“It doesn’t matter which part of the world, music creators don’t care so much
about their rights. Out of my frustration that music creators don’t know so
much about their rights, I started Music Rights Awareness Foundation,”
Molinder said, adding that the Foundation is for the bene t of all creators in the
creative sphere.
“We will be there to talk the creators’ language, make sure they understand
how important it is, and together with other stakeholders I’m sure we will make
a change, but we as creators need to be part of this job,” he said.
The workshop drew local participants from a wide spectrum of music-related
arts, from singers to composers, musician managers, events brokers, to
songwriters, and music producers, among others.
Molinder’s opening remarks were followed by a lively session of songwriter’s
presentations, which was basically a cordial roundtable discussion on every
one’s background, profession, any previously released material, and current
knowledge of the responsibilities and rights related to music creation.
The local music industry

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There was also a discussion about the current music industry situation in the
country. In a way, the workshop was a diagnosis of the challenges that still dog
the local music industry, from the lack of public spaces and facilities for arts
practitioners to showcasing their work, to lack of genuine will by media houses
to promote local content, and the need to pay ‘a bribe’ before one’s song can be
put on the airwaves.
“The biggest problem we face is the lack of space from which to perform,” said
Mani Martin, one of the local artistes.
“We have no theater, so we have to perform from hotels but these are
conference venues, they are not designed for music concerts. Usually, you have
to pay about $5,000 for these venues so it doesn’t make business sense.”
Mighty Popo, whose name has come to be synonymous with the annual
KigaliUp Music Festival, expressed dismay at what he termed “lack of
fundamentals” in the local music industry:
“When you talk about producers, for instance, in Rwanda it’s quite di erent.
Here a producer is the mixing engineer, the beat maker, sometimes even song
writer, while a musician could think of a producer in terms of a record label,
that one person who they go to and create a beat, write lyrics, and then they
engineer the thing, produce, mix and master the song,” Mighty Popo said.
Danny Vumbi, a singer and songwriter, decried the fact that song writers are
still not given their due credit in Rwanda, saying no producer, musician, radio
or TV presenter ever credits a songwriter.
Eric Soul, an events broker, events entrepreneur and DJ, urged fellow arts
practitioners to take the lead in spreading awareness about musicians’ rights.
“Word of mouth is the most powerful tool of communication. We need to meet
physically at gigs and we need to get heads of relevant partner institutions like
government and private stakeholders into gigs other than going to them in their
o ces. We need to take them where the creative energy and creative juices are
owing,” Soul said.
‘Music Rights in Africa’
The organisation, Music Rights in Africa, is the brainchild of Niclas Molinder,
the founder of the Music Rights Awareness Foundation, and a Rwandan, Sonia
Mutesi Hakuziyaremye, coordinator of the Pan-African Composers’ and
Songwriters’ Alliance (PACSA).
“I was in Italy last year when we planned to start this foundation. I was talking

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about the challenges we have to make creators understand music rights, and
after my speech I met Sonia and she told me it was exactly what she wanted to
do for PACSA, we decided to start Music Rights in Africa as the rst project for
the Music Rights Awareness Foundation,” said Molinder.
The team wound up their one-week African itinerary in Rwanda, having started
o in Malawi, then Tanzania.
The project works with several partners like Spotify, a Swedish digital music
distribution service; YouTube; CISAK, an umbrella organisation for all the
copyright societies in the world; PACSA; and the Copyright society in the UK.
“These organisations will help us to collect your money if your song is used
outside your own country,” Molinder said.
“I’m working closely with YouTube and Fortify, but their biggest problem right
now is to know where to pay, because the creators don’t report the music.
“So they have money, and there’s an expression in the music industry that
“Black box money” – unidenti ed money that’s travelling round the world
through the Rights societies and through distributors – which money could be
paid up, but they can’t do that because the creators don’t tell the organisation.
So it’s a chain of di erent things that we need to do.”
editorial@newtimes.co.rw
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