| Sports |
Promoting and
protecting our cultural industry
The Papua New Guinea Copyright and
Neighboring Rights Act was enacted by Parliament in July 2000.
Recently a known Papua New Guinean musician complained about the
unauthorized use of his music by a band in Australia. This is
the most recent of what is now becoming a common-place
occurrence in this country.
A few weeks ago the radio stations expressed the strong view
that they did not support the efforts of the Intellectual
Property Office (IPO) to institute regulations under the
Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act, which would mean they
would have to pay royalties for the music they play on their
stations.
They argued that if the regulations were to be implemented, they
would not be able to afford the royalties on the music they
play, most of which was from overseas. At the same time they
specifically said that they did not want to play local (PNG)
music all day. Incidentally; the National Cultural Commission (NCC)
was part of the development of the regulations.
Last week the editorial in the National lamented the plight of
artist and the arts generally. It also made commentary on the
woes of the National Museum and drew attention to the need for
more support to culture and the arts. The editorial commentary
also made reference in part to the efforts being made by
National Cultural Commission (NCC) in the development and
promotion of culture and creative industry. Incidentally, the
National Cultural Commission is staging its 3rd Annual National
Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Lae, from 27th to 28th October
2007.
Seven years after the enactment of the Copyright and Neighboring
Rights Act 2000, copyright violations are still very much
common-place. And due to the refusal of "users of copyright"
such as the radio stations to abide by the law; we continue to
import large volumes of music and other copyrighted material and
use for free. In this way we deny the overseas artists their
economic and in some cases moral rights. In the same breath we
are denying our local artists the same rights.
Recently two persons from the cultural sector in Queensland came
to Port Moresby, as part of the Trade Mission team that visited
here. One was from the Queensland Library Services and the other
was from the Queensland Museum. Admittedly, this was the first
time representatives from the cultural sector were included in
these Trade Talk delegations. A meeting was convened between
these two persons and representatives from the PNG cultural
sector, such as the Creative Arts discipline at UPNG, the
National Library, the National Museum, the National Cultural
Commission and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Not being
very clear about the basis of these two persons inclusion in the
Trade Talks mission, in my opening remarks, I jokingly asked
whether we were here to talk "cultural trade or co-operation?"
The visitors looked startled and puzzled for a few seconds
before one of them responded, saying; "I suppose we could do a
bit of both". To which I responded that I preferred to talk
trade as the trade imbalance between Australia and PNG in the
cultural/creative industries was of the same magnitude as it was
in other areas. I was at this point not joking any longer as I
was now thinking of the global reality of trade imbalance in the
cultural and creative industries between the developed and
developing countries; with the latter group importing huge
volumes of cultural/creative goods and exporting very little.
According to a recent UNESCO report; "In economic terms the
creative/cultural industries sector is one of the fastest
growing sectors of the world economy. In the years 1974 to 2000
the sector grew in exports from $US 39 billion to $US 59
billion. Best estimates value the sector at 7 percent of the
world's gross domestic product and forecasts are put at 10
percent growth".
However, much of the growth being experienced in the world is
happening in developed countries. "In most developed market
economies the cultural and copyright industries account for 2 -
5% of GDP and have generated consistent and stable growth above
world average in the last decade, as exemplified in a rising
share of employment and exports. Global estimates forecast that
the creative industries will grow by 33 percent in the next four
years".
Apart from a few large developing countries such as China, India
and Mexico, developing and least developed countries do not seem
to experience this growth and expansion and if they do, it is
very minimal compared to that of the developed world. Very
little of the films, books, video-games, music and other
cultural/creative items available in the world today are
produced in the developing and least developed countries.
Perhaps one or two countries such as India are able to make a
mark against Hollywood film production. In the same way, some
Caribbean countries can boast to have made some impact on music
production on the global arena with their musical greats such as
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Harry Belafonte, and Shaggy. However
these are very minor impacts when seen globally and even for
these individual Caribbean states themselves, when imports are
weighed against exports.
According to a study done in the Caribbean group of countries,
it is difficult for developing and least developed countries to
break into the cultural/creative industries markets, which are
saturated by products from developed countries. The report says
there are fundamental problems in the development and management
of cultural and creative industries in the region and which is
the same for most developing countries. Of course on the top of
the list is the lack of government recognition of the economic
value and potential of the cultural/creative industries sector
and provision of appropriate support. In addition the report
identifies the lack of adequate "intellectual property
protection and commercialization" as major problems for
developing countries. It says; "The creative industries cannot
survive in the marketplace without adequate protection from
copyright infringement. Without such protection cultural
entrepreneurs would be at the mercy of piracy, bootlegging,
counterfeiting and other forms infringement such as unlicensed
broadcasting". A number of issues are identified in the report
as challenges that are associated with small and peripheral
economies. Interestingly, amongst these is the recognition that;
"There also tends to be an historical, institutional and
commercial bias against indigenous content in the home market
that marginalizes and limits local entrepreneurship, investment
and market development". Considering the position taken by the
radio industry in PNG, referred to above, we could almost say
this study was conducted in this country!
So while we in the developing and least developed countries
procrastinate about the implementation of laws to benefit our
right-holders; the right-holders in developed countries continue
to benefit from their steady growing exports to us.
 
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