Geneva, April 23, 2015 PR/2015/776

In the early 1970s, fans of Bob Marley and the Wailers gathered around record players, 8-track tape decks and cassette players to listen to “Get Up, Stand Up”, which went on to become an international anthem for human rights.

Decades on, technology has transformed societies as well as music: How it is created, recorded, distributed and enjoyed. Digital music files and Internet connections have provided new platforms and audiences for recording artists, but have also added new pressure on their livelihoods as a result of mass piracy, fast-evolving business models and an uncertain future.

Each April 26, World IP Day celebrates the human ingenuity and creativity that drives progress, benefiting mankind. And what is more universal than music, a manifestation of the innate human desire to get together and groove? That’s why the theme for this year’s World IP Day is Get Up, Stand Up. For Music.

“Music is part of an extraordinary revolution that is taking place around us, a revolution that is fundamentally changing the way creative works are produced, distributed and consumed,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry in his World IP Day 2015 message.

Stevie Wonder – American singer, composer and instrumentalist.

Angelique Kidjo – Beninese music star.

Jose Feliciano – Puerto Rican guitarist, singer and composer.

“Enormous artistic, personal, social and economic effort goes into the creation and the performance of music. We must find a way of ensuring its sustainability in the economy. My message for World Intellectual Property Day is – do not take music for granted; value it,” he said.

“Today is a day to "get up, stand up, for music" – to ensure that our musicians get a fair deal, and that we value their creativity and their unique contribution to our lives.”

Events marking World IP Day 2015 are taking place in hundreds of locales across WIPO’s 188 member states.

On the World IP Day Facebook page, music aficionados can find posts showing the role intellectual property plays in unlocking and promoting artists’ creativity – and in helping them make a living from music. Other resources include videos featuring, among others, Angelique Kidjo of Benin, Ismael Lo of Senegal, and Jose Feliciano, Barbara Hendricks and Stevie Wonder of the U.S.A.

The World IP Day community is invited to share reports, images and videos from their own World IP Day celebrations on Facebook and other social media platforms with the hashtag #WorldIPDay.

Background

About World IP Day: WIPO’s member states initiated World IP Day in 2000 to raise public awareness about the role of IP in daily life, and to celebrate the contribution made by innovators and creators to the development of societies across the globe. World IP Day is celebrated annually on April 26, the date on which the Convention establishing WIPO entered into force in 1970.