World Intellectual Property Day 2025 Commemorates Artists
On April 26, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) celebrated World IP Day by focusing on the importance of IP in shaping the global music landsacpe.
According to data released by WIPO, pop music continues to influence modern culture as musical genres such as K-Pop and reggaeton gains popularity more and more each year.
For 2025, WIPO underscores the importance of IP in empowering artists, musicians and entrepreneuers to introduce novel ideas to the music industry. At the time time, IP will continue to safeguard the work of songwriters, composers and artists to ensure ‘fair play’, meaning proper compensation and acknowledgement are given to those who own the rights to their music.
IP rights are crucial to support a growing music landscape and proper IP practices encourage artists to pursue their musical talents. Enforced IP rights in the music industry also translates to growth in other connecting areas, such as the film, fashion and consumer goods industry, thus fueling economic growth.
WIPO Director General Daren Tang expresses the importance to support artists and musicians as pop music grows, in order for artists to receive recognition and compensation for their creative work.
In the digital age, music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music have changed how we enjoy our favourite songs and artists. However, our modern way of consuming music introduced new issues concerning fair compensation to musicians.
Artists earn money via streaming platforms through royalties, which depend on several factors such as number of streams and distribution contracts. It is widely known that artists receive low amounts of financial compensation via streaming platforms, sometimes as low as 0.0003 USD per stream.
It is crucial to address these issues to ensure artists are able to experience a stable and sustainable career as they continue to create music that enriches our lives. Therefore, WIPO is placing importance on protecting IP rights to encourage continued creativity not only within the music industry, but also creative industries all around.
After all, it’s only fair play!
source: WIPO
