Zimbabwe Music Rights Association

ZIMURA is a composer and publishers association that was established to protect some of the rights granted to them by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act Chapter 26:05. The public performance of Copyright music by any means is governed by the provisions of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act Chapter 26:05 which provide that the authority of the Copyright owner be obtained before any such public performance.Established in 1982, the Organization has opened offices in the following towns, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Bindura and Chinhoyi.

Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act

The protection of a person and property against interference by third parties (for example assault and theft) is provided for by our common law. The protection of works of the mind such as literature, music and art is also provided by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act. It is a well known fact that works of the mind are vitally important in any country because a country cannot live without its culture and is identified by it.

The Act gives the creator of the work of art exclusive rights in respect of the exploitation of his works, for example only an author may publish his book, only an artist may exhibit his painting. In the same way, only a composer may perform his music in public. The Act makes it an offence for anyone else to do so without he rights holder’s permission. It is physically impossible for any composer to give permission to each person who wishes to use his music and just as impossible for each music user to get permission from each composer of the music he wishes to play, that is the cause behind the formation of the ZIMURA. Established in 1982, the Organization has opened offices in the following towns, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Bindura and Chinhoyi.