A short video with statements by participants of the international workshop “Copyright, CARE and African Music Archives: Tensions between Artists’ Interests and the Repatriation of Music”, is now available online. The statements sum up some of the central discussion points, questions raised and findings of the two-days-workshop in September 2022 at Johannes Gutenberg Universität-Mainz.

Organized by members of CEDITRAA, the African Music Archives, the University Library and the Academy of Sciences and Literature, all in Mainz, this workshop brought together archivists, scholars, lawmakers, lawyers, business people and musicians. Discussions focused on the tensions between scholars’ and artists’ interest in the accessibility of collections and the need to respect copyright laws. They also addressed questions of digital restitution or repatriation, as well as the ethical, legal and technical framework for making African music.