The United States on Friday ended a three-day music industry workshop to help up-and-coming Nigerian artistes reach more listeners within and outside the country and protect their intellectual property.

The event held in Lagos State titled, ‘Intellectual Property (IP) for Growth in Africa: Music Industry Workshop,’ was organised to leveraging IP to expand investment, partnerships, and shared economic growth.

The event brought together music industry leaders, emerging professionals, legal, and policy stakeholders, to explore how effective IP systems could strengthen businesses, protect creative assets, attract investment, and expand commercial opportunities.

Speaking at the event, hours after his appointment as the new U.S. Consul General to Nigeria, Brandon Hudspeth, said the “workshop is about bringing U.S. expertise together with leaders, policy makers and professionals music industry experts.

“I can tell you that as Nigerian music reaches more and more listeners across the country, continent and globe, that enterprise, coupled with American companies, Nigerian artists, labels, platforms, that is what creates this business economic engine. 

“Critical to that is the strong intellectual property. U.S. could play a role in this, I mean projects, developing the markets, that’s in the long term, and for Nigerian creators that need greater ability to retain control over their networks and their IPs. The creative sector doesn’t inspire only, it generates economic opportunities, film, music, design, publishing.

“This workshop gives us all an opportunity to share about America expertise, coupled with the extraordinary talent and creativity will be the best innovation coning out from Nigeria.”

The closing session witnessed panel discussion consisting stakeholders in music to teach participants how emerging music and creative professionals could drive Nigeria’s music industry toward the $1 billion milestone, including partnerships, policies, and support structures needed to sustain growth and promote shared prosperity.

Mr Hudspeth convened the workshop alongside the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, World Intellectual Property Organisation, and Nigerian alumni of the American Music Mentorship Program.