Deal sheet
- Status
- Open and unresolved on two fronts. On the settlement: Vanguard reported 31 May 2026 that MCSN and ReLPI had agreed to settle their frozen-levy dispute out of court within a judge-set timeframe, via a quote from PMAN president Pretty Okafor, a third party to the suit, not a statement from either MCSN or ReLPI. No source read reports the outcome of that timeframe, a signed agreement, a return to court, or any disbursement, through this record's research cutoff of 29 October 2026. On disclosure: The Whistler's FOI-based inquiry, published 12 October 2026, establishes that MCSN had not disclosed its collection or distribution totals for any recent year as of that date, despite a documented month-long request process; COSON, a rival society whose own CMO licence a Court of Appeal ruling (9 July 2026, per SaharaReporters) found lapsed since May 2019, had separately and voluntarily disclosed a specific N465.5 million 2024 distribution figure at a reported public meeting in December 2024. Neither the May settlement push nor the June 2026 House of Representatives probe (covered in this desk's related record) is reported to have produced a public resolution or report.
- Type
- Settlement
- Parties
- RELPI, MCSN, COSON
- Amount
- NGN No new amount is disclosed here as a deal value. The N1,205,956,580.20 Private Copy Levy tranche frozen by a February 2026 Mareva injunction (covered in this desk's earlier record) remains the only MCSN figure in any source read. MCSN disclosed no collection or distribution total for 2025 or 2026 despite a documented Whistler request; COSON separately disclosed N465.5 million as its 2024 member distribution, a different organisation and a different fund, not directly comparable to the levy.
- Rights covered
- No master recording, publishing catalogue or other IP right changed hands. This record covers two separate but related questions: whether MCSN and ReLPI reached an out-of-court settlement over custody of the frozen levy funds after a Lagos judge set a timeframe for talks in May 2026, and whether MCSN would disclose, on request, what it has collected or distributed in royalties. Neither question resolves who is entitled to administer the sound-recording share of the levy or to license Nigerian music, the question still before the Federal High Court and, nominally, the House of Representatives' Committee on Justice.
- Territory
- Nigeria
- Announced
- 2026-05-31
- Primary document
- Trade press
- Sources
- The Whistler (Nigeria), 12 October 2026: the only account read that documents MCSN's and the NCC's non-response to a formal, dated Freedom of Information request, naming the staff who declined to provide figures and the dates of each follow-up · Vanguard, byline Benjamin Njoku, 31 May 2026: sole report of the settlement push, quoting PMAN president Pretty Okafor that the judge set a timeframe for the parties to meet and reconcile; carries no statement from MCSN or ReLPI · Premium Times, 12 December 2024, via NAN: reports COSON chairman Tony Okoroji announcing a N465.5 million 2024 distribution to about 5,406 members, a 123 percent rise on 2023, at COSON's 14th AGM in Lagos · SaharaReporters, 1 August 2026: reports the 9 July 2026 Court of Appeal ruling affirming COSON's CMO licence was suspended in April 2018 and expired in May 2019; an interlocutory ruling, not a final judgment on COSON's underlying suit · Premium Times, 23 February 2026: this desk's primary source for the February 2026 freeze and the N1,205,956,580.20 figure, covered fully in the related record mcsn-relpi-copyright-levy-freeze-2026
Read this before citing: NO SETTLEMENT OUTCOME IS ESTABLISHED. The only report of the May 2026 settlement push comes through PMAN president Pretty Okafor's statement to Vanguard, a third party to suit FHC/L/CS/207/2026, not through a court filing, a direct MCSN statement, or a direct ReLPI statement; this desk did not obtain the court's own order setting the timeframe. REPEATED SEARCHES THROUGH 29 OCTOBER 2026 FOUND NO FOLLOW-UP REPORT on whether the parties reached agreement, returned to court, held the media briefing Okafor promised, or released any part of the frozen N1,205,956,580.20 to musicians. THE WHISTLER'S FOI REQUESTS TO MCSN AND THE NCC WERE STILL UNANSWERED AS OF ITS 12 OCTOBER 2026 PUBLICATION; this record relies on that newspaper's account of its own request process (dates, named staff, quoted refusals) rather than on any MCSN or NCC document, since neither body produced one. COSON'S LICENCE STATUS REMAINS JUDICIALLY CONTESTED, NOT FINALLY SETTLED: the 9 July 2026 Court of Appeal ruling cited here was interlocutory, in an injunction dispute, and COSON continues to dispute the NCC's position in parallel litigation; this desk found no final judgment on the underlying substantive case. THIS IS NOT A FINDING ON WHO IS ENTITLED TO THE LEVY OR TO LICENSE NIGERIAN MUSIC. The record documents a disclosure gap between two collecting societies and the unresolved status of a court-encouraged settlement; it does not determine which society holds the lawful mandate, a question still before Nigerian courts and, nominally, the House of Representatives' Committee on Justice. NO AMOUNT MCSN HAS COLLECTED OR DISTRIBUTED IN 2025 OR 2026 COULD BE ESTABLISHED from any source read; MCSN's only disclosed figure anywhere in the sources reviewed is the N1,205,956,580.20 levy tranche it received in February 2026, not a distribution amount.
A Federal High Court judge in Lagos gave the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) and the Record Label Proprietors’ Initiative (ReLPI) a timeframe in May 2026 to settle their fight over a frozen N1,205,956,580.20 copyright-levy tranche out of court. Five months later, no source read by this desk reports whether that settlement was reached, and when a Nigerian newspaper asked MCSN directly in September 2026 what it had collected and distributed, from the levy or from any other source of royalty income, the society would not say.
A Judge Pushes Both Sides to the Table
The dispute began in February 2026, when the Nigerian Copyright Commission paid MCSN the first tranche of Nigeria’s Private Copy Levy, a sum MCSN itself put at N1,205,956,580.20. ReLPI and eleven record labels and music companies went to the Federal High Court in Lagos, suit no. FHC/L/CS/207/2026, and won a Mareva injunction from Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria and twenty commercial banks from moving the funds. That freeze, and the question of who it leaves holding the money, was the subject of this desk’s earlier record on the case.
On 31 May 2026, Vanguard reported that the two sides had agreed to resolve the matter outside court. The report, by Benjamin Njoku, quoted Pretty Okafor, president of the Performing Musicians Employees Association of Nigeria (PMAN), saying “the judge gave the parties a timeframe to meet, reconcile, and reach an agreement” and that a media briefing would follow “in the coming days” to explain the delay to musicians who had already completed verification. Okafor’s framing was that a settlement would let the levy reach “verified members”: his word, not a term defined in the report. Vanguard’s account carries no statement from either MCSN or ReLPI directly; everything attributed to the court’s directions comes through Okafor, a third party to the suit.
No Outcome Has Surfaced
This desk searched for any report of what happened after that timeframe expired. None was found. No source read states that MCSN and ReLPI signed an agreement, that the case returned to court, that the media briefing Okafor promised took place, or that any part of the frozen N1.2 billion has moved to musicians, verified or otherwise. The injunction’s own status past its original March 2026 adjournment was already unresolved in this desk’s earlier record; the May settlement push does not resolve it. Whether the parties are still negotiating, have quietly dropped the matter, or are back in front of Justice Lewis-Allagoa could not be established from any source read.
A Newspaper Asked MCSN What It Has Collected
Separately, and over the same stretch of 2026, The Whistler ran its own inquiry into MCSN’s finances, publishing its findings on 12 October 2026. The paper’s reporting lays out a documented attempt to get MCSN to disclose basic numbers: total royalties collected, administrative deductions, unclaimed shares, and how members’ payments were calculated. MCSN confirmed it had completed a 2023 royalty distribution but did not disclose the amount. In December 2025, the society attributed a decline in its collections to music users, naming broadcasters, event organisers, hotels, restaurants and streaming services, as failing to respond to its invoices.
The Whistler filed a Freedom of Information request to MCSN by email on 31 August 2026 and by hard copy on 2 September 2026; the delivery was acknowledged by a staff member named only as “Loveth O.” A follow-up visit to MCSN’s office on 24 September 2026 produced no figures. One officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the reporter: “Are you a journalist? If yes, you would not get anything from MCSN.” A front-desk officer named as Miss Deborah Ojoh declined to let the reporter see the general manager, identified in the report as Mr Louis Udoh, saying “the General manager can’t see you,” then that he was in a meeting. A customer-care representative named Mr Joseph said by phone that Udoh would respond that day or the next. As of the article’s publication, neither Udoh nor MCSN had provided the requested figures.
The Whistler ran the same request past the Nigerian Copyright Commission, MCSN’s regulator. The NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mrs Ijeoma Egbunike, acknowledged the request on 14 September 2026 and said it had been forwarded to the Director-General for clearance; a follow-up on 23 September drew only “I will revert please.” No figures or findings came from the NCC either. The report also notes that the House of Representatives’ four-week probe into copyright administration, ordered 10 June 2026 and covered in this desk’s earlier record, had still not produced a public report by publication, with one source telling the paper “the committee hasn’t sat.”
COSON Published Its Numbers Twice, Without a Licence
The contrast sits with the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), MCSN’s rival and, on the Nigerian Copyright Commission’s own account, an organisation without a current licence to operate as a collective management organisation. A Lagos Court of Appeal ruling on 9 July 2026, reported by SaharaReporters, affirmed that COSON’s CMO licence was suspended in April 2018 and expired by effluxion of time in May 2019. That was an interlocutory ruling in an injunction dispute, not a final judgment on COSON’s underlying case against the NCC, and COSON continues to contest the NCC’s position; this record treats the licence question as judicially contested rather than finally settled, consistent with this desk’s earlier reporting on the same point.
Whatever its licence status, COSON has twice published a specific distribution figure to its own members in open sessions reported by independent press. At its annual general meeting in Lagos, reported by Premium Times on 12 December 2024, COSON chairman Tony Okoroji announced the society was distributing N465.5 million in 2024 royalties, a figure he said was 123 percent higher than the 2023 distribution and the largest in COSON’s history, to roughly 5,406 members. Reporters present described members receiving bank alerts on their phones during the meeting. No comparable figure, for any year, has been found in anything MCSN has published or said on the record.
What This Means for Musicians
For a Nigerian performer or label waiting on the frozen levy, the practical answer in October 2026 is the same as it was when the court order froze the funds in February: no money is confirmed to have moved, and no settlement is confirmed to have been reached. For a musician who is simply an MCSN member wondering what the society has collected on their behalf this year, the answer is also the same as it was at the society’s December 2025 statement: MCSN has not said, and as of this record, would not say when asked directly by a reporter carrying a formal information request.
That a rival society disclosed its own numbers in public, twice, while operating under a licence a court has ruled lapsed, does not resolve who is entitled to administer Nigeria’s levy or license its music. It does establish, on the sources read, a disclosure gap between the two organisations that neither the May 2026 settlement push nor the June 2026 parliamentary probe has closed.
