Musicians in Uganda have been in celebratory mood after parliament passed the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2025. They argue that once the bill is assented to by the president as expected, they will earn lots more money than they are doing today. That they will be rewarded for their efforts. Ugandan music has come a long way. In the 1990s, very few Ugandans considered music as their professional career. There were professional music groups that still exist such as Afrigo band and some other bands/musicians, but many didn’t earn that much. If the amended bill is to make them earn more, that is even better. The bill seems to be very important to Uganda’s music industry as there seem to be a resurgence of the foreign content like it was in the 1990s. Congolese musicians ruled the airwaves and the stages at Gaba beach, Nakivubo stadium and the beaches of Entebbe. Singers like Jose Chameleone, Bebe Cool and Bobi Wine broke that dominance and Ugandan musicians started filling stadiums on their own. Congolese musicians stopped owning the concert stages in Kampala. The kingdom of Buganda had in 1996 launched the popular CBS radio which further played local music on the airwaves and organised Ekitobeero music festivals, which provided the platform for Ugandan music to thrive. Music entrepreneurs like Hope Mukasa at his Sabrina’s pub provided another platform, karaoke, that saw many wannabe musicians practice their craft. Sabrina’s would lead to the emergence of the famous I-Jay duo of Iryn Namubiru and Juliana Kanyomozi. Ugandan music was on cloud nine. Musicians stopped singing for beer and now were being paid professional fees. Kasiwukira and company would buy the records, make cassettes and sell. Telecoms, looking for ways to reach the masses, signed up musicians. Nightclubs held musicians like the celebrities they were becoming. Video mixing became the norm in nightclubs and every little bar. You could actually spend a whole night in a bar with only Ugandan music being played. Many young people dreamed of becoming musicians. A number of them lived the dream. Today, the industry is pivoting a bit. Foreign shows are back in Uganda, including of Congolese like Ya Levis and Fally Ipupa. Kofi Olomidde turns up once in a while, including at a recent Afrigo 50th anniversary. Nigerian music is dominating the airwaves. There is perhaps no bar or nightclub today that only plays Ugandan music for the entire night. The changes in the industry may perhaps explain the gusto with which some of the most known Ugandan musicians invested in the amended copyright bill. They see it as a saviour even though royalties have been collected on their behalf by organisations like the Uganda Performing Right Society (UPRS) for years. As the musicians were celebrating the passing of the amended bill in parliament, their counterparts in Nigeria were being ranked as the top earners in Africa on music streaming platform Spotify. It was revealed that Nigerian musicians earned more than $43m in 2025 from Spotify by pulling in a combined 30.3 billion streams, which is about 1.6 billion hours of listening time. Nigerian music has been globally embraced, featuring in more than 320 million user-generated playlists, according to reports. Barack Obama, the former US president, releases his annual playlist around December every year. For years now, a Nigerian musician appears on his list, which he posts on his X account of nearly 120 million followers. The Nigerians are developing music that cuts across borders and appeals to worldwide audiences. You have seen them perform at even the World Cup and being regularly nominated for Grammys among other international awards. In Uganda, some of the leading musicians, instead of thinking global, concentrate on Gulu city, where they book rooms for weeks doing whatever they can to meet Gen Salim Saleh. He has publicly rebuked them before to their embarrassment. But do they listen? They see politics as the only means to earn. Those who become famous because of their ability to dance and sing forget about what made them famous once they make it. They appear at shows to mime, walk about the stage while spending some considerable time talking about their imaginary haters or reminding others how beautiful they are. The audience in Uganda is small and the economy is even smaller, yet music transcends borders. Ugandan musicians should, therefore, think beyond miming at kwanjula and weddings and create music that has a global appeal so that they can earn from a global audience. Cozying up to politicians will not sustainably make them earn better, even when copyright bill is assented to. djjuuko@gmail.com The writer is a communication and visibility consultant.The post Musicians should think beyond miming at kwanjula and weddings appeared first on The Observer.