Preserving Minority Music Through Intellectual Property Rights: An Integrative Approach to Ascertain a Common Global Mindedness

Abstract

The power and the beauty of minority music have never been questioned as the cultures of the world come into contact irrespective of westernization, or globalization. With the advent of the internet, minority music has never been restricted to the specific community it owns. Scholars and fans around the world had been researching and enjoying these creations. But the status that minority music enjoys in the global music industry had not always been beneficial for those minorities themselves. The research issue investigated was the way intellectual property rights [IPRs] protect minority music against the numerous malpractices that have been taking place. The objectives were to examine the IPRs that are coded to protect minority music, to assess how far these rights are practically implemented, and finally to provide a framework to facilitate the protection of minority music in each context. The method used was document analysis where the published journal articles, textbooks, and official websites of international organizations had been perused for updated information. It was revealed that minority music had been a contested definition against the context. The international and national level bodies have had many legal procedures to protect the rights of minority music. But the dilemma arises is how protective are these when the minorities are unaware of the power of the rights against their traditional cultural heritage. The dissemination of the legal procedures to such communities and the level of knowledge and understanding needs to be addressed. The recommendation is to devise a tripartite strategy where international organizations, local authorities, and minority communities get together to empower the IPRs to save the fundamentals of minority music around the globe.