{"id":23651,"date":"2026-10-25T16:09:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T16:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/?p=23651"},"modified":"2026-10-25T16:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T16:09:27","slug":"liberia-cosol-copyright-levy-welfare-performers-airplay-royalties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/liberia-cosol-copyright-levy-welfare-performers-airplay-royalties\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberia Pays Its Copyright Levy Out as Welfare. Its Law Gives Performers Half of Airplay Royalties."},"content":{"rendered":"

Liberia’s copyright law charges a levy on blank media and copying devices, and the Copyright Society of Liberia (COSOL) has been paying that money out to artists as welfare, not as per-song royalties.<\/p>\n

That distinction matters for anyone releasing Liberian music. Welfare is paid by need. Royalties are paid by use. Only one of them rewards the song that actually got played.<\/p>\n

Where Liberia’s levy money goes<\/h2>\n

Section 9.35 of the Liberia Intellectual Property Act, 2016<\/a> puts a levy on “any material used or capable of being used to infringe copyright.” The money is paid into the Intellectual Property Office’s funds, and the office disburses it to approved collective management organisations under its own regulations.<\/p>\n

A collective management organisation, or CMO, is a society that licenses music users and pays rights holders on their behalf. In Liberia that is COSOL, created by regulation in 2019 and operational from 2020.<\/p>\n

FrontPage Africa reported in October 2025<\/a> that levy funds are redistributed through COSOL’s welfare programmes. Executive Director James Y. Draper described general benefits such as food and cash distribution, plus specific benefits for health, education and bereavement. Initial costs for one member’s surgery had already reached 80,000 to 100,000 Liberian dollars.<\/p>\n

A year earlier, at COSOL’s fourth anniversary, Liberia Intellectual Property Office Director-General Garmai Koboi told artists the welfare checks handed out were “not royalties,” according to Samuel G. Dweh in FrontPage Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What the 2016 Act promises recordings<\/h2>\n

The law is more generous on paper than the payouts so far. For masters, three clauses do the work:<\/p>\n