Kaggwa Andrew
Uganda’s amended copyright law has rightly sparked conversation across the creative industry, but beyond the headlines, there’s a deeper issue we must confront: understanding.
For many artists, copyright is often viewed as a singular right held by the performer. In reality, intellectual property is shared. A song is rarely the product of one individual, it is a collaboration between storytellers, composers, producers, sound engineers, and sometimes even session musicians. Each of these contributors holds a stake in the final work.
If this amended law is to truly transform Uganda’s creative economy, then education must take center stage. Artists need to understand not only their rights, but also the rights of those they collaborate with. Equally, producers, storytellers, and other contributors must be empowered to claim and manage their share of the value they help create.
The success of this law will not be measured by its existence on paper, but by how well it works in practice. And it will only work if the entire ecosystem benefits, not just the face of the song, but every hand that shaped it.
As in artists should quit being selfish – we see it on Spotify data, one artist is listed as the storyteller, performer, producer, engineer, composer…… even songs with live bass guitars, lead guitars or kongas still mention one artist as the only contributor, even when it’s an open secret they can’t play a single instrument.
This is the moment for industry-wide alignment: clear agreements, transparent royalty structures, and collective awareness. Because when everyone in the chain earns fairly, the industry doesn’t just survive, it grows.
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Written by
Ugandan Arts and Culture Journalist. Film and theatre enthusiast. Photojournalist.
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