UK music company denies copyrighting the Kenyan National anthem on YouTube after public outcry.
After the uproar by Kenyans on social media that a UK company by the name DeWolfe Music had copyrighted the Kenyan National Anthem on YouTube and was making money from it. The UK music company in question has denied copyrighting the National anthem on the music platform and cleared the air by explaining that what they posted on their YouTube channel is a sound recording of the anthem.
A day ago, a Kenyan YouTuber brought the matter to light after he received a strike (warning) for using a version of the anthem whose copyright was attributed to the music company.
According to a report by Nairobi News, the owner of the company Warren de Wofle in an email to the media outlet said his company does not own the rights to the national anthem and can never copyright it.
“We do not own, or claim to own, the copyright to the Kenyan National Anthem, most National anthems are non-copyright and are in the public domain, due either to their age or by legislation making national symbols copyright-free. We have a sound recording of this work but we do not claim any other ownership and have never copyrighted ownership of the composition as this in the public domain,” he wrote.
Warren added that the YouTuber’s video was only given a strike after a music identification system picked up the usage of the recording but it has since been cleared.
2nacheki, who had used the anthem in a Vlog on Africa’s best anthems, confirmed that the copyright claim was indeed resolved, sharing a screenshot of communication of the same from YouTube.
As earlier reported by The Sauce, the Kenyan Copyright Board (KECOBO) yesterday came out to say that the copyright claim on the Kenyan national anthem on YouTube by the UK based company was invalid and it was working on solving the issue.
