Over the weekend, the Nigerian music industry got a facelift with the launch of the much talked about Biometric Identity Card introduced by the Performing Musician Association of Nigeria (PMAN) to help artistes make money from selling their music works.
According to PMAN president, Pretty Okafor, who spoke at the event which took place at Planet One, Lagos, the aim of the scheme is also to help ascertain the number of artistes under PMAN.
Pretty explained that the biometric card is the official PMAN National identification card that qualifies the holder as a genuine member of the association. He said the card entitles the holder to enjoy benefits and privileges of being a registered member.
The PMAN boss said more conferences would be organized to enlighten artistes on different ways to make money with their intellectual properties. He also said with the initiative, artiste can be sure of their future.
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“Once you get the ID card, you have a three week course, you pass through the rudiment computer and then you attend the music school for three months, though it is optional as we can’t force anybody to do that but it is in there registration forms.
“But what we are trying to do is to put up a standard as applicable in developed societies. We are also trying to take the kids off the streets and off drugs because once you are educated enough to manage yourself, you will be able to stay off what is going to destroy your life,” Pretty said.
Attesting to the laudable idea, ace singer, Sunny Neji, confessed that this was his first time of seeing such being realized. He said it is a step in the right direction.
Sunny Neji stated that Nigerian musicians have not enjoyed respect from people because of bad structures. He submitted that with the new initiative, the time for artistes to start smiling to banks has eventually come because their songs will no longer be downloaded for free.
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