Olufunmilayo Arewa
George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School, Faculty Member
- Music, Law and Society, Financial Risk Management, Copyright, Africana, Copyright History, and 14 moreLaw, Accounting, Securities Regulation, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Musical meaning, Cover Songs, Jimi Hendrix, Education, Social Sciences, Business, Sociology, International Relations, and American musicedit
- Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Arewa’s major areas of scholarly research include music, technology, copyright, film, internatio... moreOlufunmilayo (Funmi) Arewa’s major areas of scholarly research include music, technology, copyright, film, international and comparative law, entrepreneurship, accounting, and Africana studies.
Prior to becoming a law professor, Professor Arewa practiced law for nearly a decade, working in legal and business positions primarily in the entrepreneurial and technology startup arena, including law firms and companies in the Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston. Before becoming a lawyer, she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS) at the University of Michigan and served as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and Montevideo, Uruguay.
In 2019, Professor Arewa was a fellow at The Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities “Law as Culture” at the University of Bonn, Germany, where she researched “Disruptive Technologies, Digital Colonialism, and the Construction of Commercial Law in Africa.” In 2015, Professor Arewa received a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Faculty Visit Research Grant for a research project entitled Cultural, Legal, and Business Considerations in the Diffusion of Jazz in Germany, a project that is connected to her forthcoming book on the development of global markets for African American music. She served as Vice Chair of the Nigeria Copyright Expert Working Group. She has also worked as a consultant on various projects, including engagements relating to education and scientific and technological capacity in Africa, and as lead consultant on a project examining the feasibility of establishing a venture capital fund in the Eastern Caribbean.
She received an M.A. and Ph.D. (Anthropology) from the University of California, Berkeley, an A.M. (Applied Economics) from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an A.B. from Harvard College. In addition to writing about music, Professor Arewa has studied classical voice for many years.
Professor Arewa’s book, Disrupting Africa: Technology, Law and Development which is based on a decade of archival research about patterns of colonial era law making in former British colonies and the continuing implications of such patterns today, is now available through Cambridge University Press.edit
This article examines contractual royalties in the U.S. recording industry. Developing Arewa’s (2019) research on entertainment industry contract accounting and Stahl’s (2015) research on record industry royalty reform, we aim to shed... more
This article examines contractual royalties in the U.S. recording industry. Developing Arewa’s (2019) research on entertainment industry contract accounting and Stahl’s (2015) research on record industry royalty reform, we aim to shed light on contractual accounting practices in the record industry and the structural asymmetries of power that characterize them. Central to our analysis is the crucial but until now unstudied role played by the Health and Retirement Funds (“AFTRA H&R Funds” or “H&R Funds”) of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“AFTRA”) in the economic lives of U.S. recording singers. The activities of this benefits system include monitoring and auditing of singers’ compensation and royalty accounts. Archival and other sorts of evidence documenting these activities provide a new and unique window into otherwise obscure accounting and business practices. Music industry royalty accounting practices, such as those revealed in the archival evidence brought to light in this article, highlight potential problems with contractual accounting. Royalty contractual accounting numbers may not be correct or calculated in a transparent or fair way, which results in a situation that leaves significant room for exploitation of a wide range of artists. This article identifies and makes use of neglected sources and types of evidence and suggests avenues of potential future reform.
Research Interests:
Despite recent trends towards robust economic growth in many Sub-Saharan African countries, a number of challenges remain, including those emerging from persistent infrastructure deficits. China has emerged as a key partner to a number of... more
Despite recent trends towards robust economic growth in many Sub-Saharan African countries, a number of challenges remain, including those emerging from persistent infrastructure deficits. China has emerged as a key partner to a number of African countries, including in financing and constructing large-scale infrastructure projects. China has become the dominant trading partner with Africa today, with bilateral trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) growing fourfold between 2001 and 2005. Relationships between China and African countries unfold in a context shaped by histories of relationships between African countries and external parties, particularly European former colonial powers, that have far too often been exploitative and unequal. These past interactions have been key elements in the construction of African infrastructure and institutions. Processes of construction of infrastructures in Africa, including institutions and a wide range of physical infrastructures, have bee...
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This article examines contractual royalties in the U.S. recording industry. Developing Arewa’s (2019) research on entertainment industry contract accounting and Stahl’s (2015) research on record industry royalty reform, we aim to shed... more
This article examines contractual royalties in the U.S. recording industry. Developing Arewa’s (2019) research on entertainment industry contract accounting and Stahl’s (2015) research on record industry royalty reform, we aim to shed light on contractual accounting practices in the record industry and the structural asymmetries of power that characterize them. Central to our analysis is the crucial but until now unstudied role played by the Health and Retirement Funds (“AFTRA H&R Funds” or “H&R Funds”) of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“AFTRA”) in the economic lives of U.S. recording singers. The activities of this benefits system include monitoring and auditing of singers’ compensation and royalty accounts. Archival and other sorts of evidence documenting these activities provide a new and unique window into otherwise obscure accounting and business practices. Music industry royalty accounting practices, such as those revealed in the archival evidence brought to light in this article, highlight potential problems with contractual accounting. Royalty contractual accounting numbers may not be correct or calculated in a transparent or fair way, which results in a situation that leaves significant room for exploitation of a wide range of artists. This article identifies and makes use of neglected sources and types of evidence and suggests avenues of potential future reform.
Research Interests:
The goals and beneficiaries of copyright frameworks have long been contested in varied contexts. Copyright is often treated as a policy tool that gives creators incentives to create new works. Incentive theories of copyright often... more
The goals and beneficiaries of copyright frameworks have long been contested in varied contexts. Copyright is often treated as a policy tool that gives creators incentives to create new works. Incentive theories of copyright often emphasize appropriability, which enables copyright owners to ensure that they profit from their copyrighted works by exercising control over uses of, and access to, such works. Although copyright clearly imposes costs in the form of restrictions on access to copyright-protected works and inefficiencies in the form of deadweight loss, the benefits of copyright are thought by many to outweigh the costs. Copyright discussions may at least implicitly assume that copyright frameworks, and the control rights that accompany such frameworks, increase creativity. However, little is actually known about the extent to which copyright increases creativity. Further, conceptualizations of creativity within legal discussions remain vague. Copyright discussions often pay ...
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Nigeria's Nollywood film industry has emerged as a global phenomenon based to a significant degree on local Nigerian and African cultural meanings. The growth of Nollywood highlights complexities of place, identity, and status in global... more
Nigeria's Nollywood film industry has emerged as a global phenomenon based to a significant degree on local Nigerian and African cultural meanings. The growth of Nollywood highlights complexities of place, identity, and status in global cultural production. Nollywood also underscores the role of technology in redefining cultural space. Nollywood has floucished through widespread use of digital technologies and represents one potential outcome of access to the tools of cultural production that have been significantly unconstrained by legal, regulatory, and industry control. Nollywood also exemplifies cultural production by groups and societies that have typically been objects of representation, often in quite negative ways.2 As such, Nollywood is an important lens through which to consider persistent questions about cultural diversity in the film industry.
Nigeria's Nollywood film industry of Nigeria reflects an important aspect of many creative landscapes: The emergence of new artistic movements, at times seemingly from nowhere, that have an enormous impact on cultural production. Over the... more
Nigeria's Nollywood film industry of Nigeria reflects an important aspect of many creative landscapes: The emergence of new artistic movements, at times seemingly from nowhere, that have an enormous impact on cultural production. Over the course of little more than two decades, Nollywood has become the second largest producer of films in the world, just behind Bollywood, and the world's leading producer of digital video films During this period, Nollywood has matured and become a part of a broader Nigerian film industry. Notably, Nollywood achieved this success without the presence of strong copyright protection, contrary to dominant expectations about intellectual property. Nigerian cinema demonstrates that creativity may derive from unforeseen sources. Nollywood also demonstrates that conceptions of intellectual property must take greater account of a potentially broad spectrum of creativity. This chapter
disusses Nigerian cinema within the context of broader digital era divides, business and cultural practices, and contemporary creative landscapes.
disusses Nigerian cinema within the context of broader digital era divides, business and cultural practices, and contemporary creative landscapes.
Investment funds are powerful forces today, not only in financial markets, but in broader social contexts as well. Investment fund principals have assembled vast amounts of wealth, particularly in the private fund arena. The activities of... more
Investment funds are powerful forces today, not only in financial markets, but in broader social contexts as well. Investment fund principals have assembled vast amounts of wealth, particularly in the private fund arena. The activities of investment funds make them important gatekeepers of economic and other opportunities in a world in which opportunities for many are seemingly more scarce. Investment funds may play an important role in selecting companies for investment, which has an important impact on which companies, which people, and which ideas receive funding. Although investment fund principals may see these decisions as being neutral ones, they often are not. Who such principals are, how they select colleagues, and how they make investment and other decisions are of critical importance for the availability and allocation of varied types of opportunities.
Thesis (B.A.)--Harvard University, 1985. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-139).
Abstract The rise of Nollywood illustrates the revolutionary potential of digital technologies in Africa. Nollywood, or the Nigerian video film industry, reflects technology leapfrogging that is increasingly prominent in Africa today.... more
Abstract The rise of Nollywood illustrates the revolutionary potential of digital technologies in Africa. Nollywood, or the Nigerian video film industry, reflects technology leapfrogging that is increasingly prominent in Africa today. Such leapfrogging, however, may raise significant issues with respect to legal and other institutions. Film production had largely ceased in Nigeria by the end of the 1980s. Despite this absence, in the early 1990s, Nigeria started on a path that has led it to become the top producer of digital video films in the world. Nigeria ...
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Borrowing is a norm in much cultural production that should be better incorporated into copyright doctrine. Copyright doctrine governs both the creation and distribution of cultural works, such as literary texts and musical works.... more
Borrowing is a norm in much cultural production that should be better incorporated into copyright doctrine. Copyright doctrine governs both the creation and distribution of cultural works, such as literary texts and musical works. Consideration of borrowing and copyright largely relates to the creation side of copyright. A number of terms may be used to illustrate the ways in which new cultural texts relate to existing cultural texts. Further, a significant commentary exists in fields such as literary theory and musicology that ...
A musical work is a set of instructions that typically consists of music notation, which includes notes, and in some instances, musical lyrics. Music copyright infringement cases do not appropriately take account of the nature of music... more
A musical work is a set of instructions that typically consists of music notation, which includes notes, and in some instances, musical lyrics. Music copyright infringement cases do not appropriately take account of the nature of music notation as a set of instructions. This leads to analysis in infringement cases that seriously misconstrues the history, uses, and functions of music notation. This misreading is a historical relic of the ways in which copyright has been applied to music. Copyright was first applied to words and was initially visual and textual in orientation. Since the earliest copyright laws, copyright subject matter has progressively expanded from granting rights to protect written expression to other artistic arenas. Copyright law has, however, consistently undervalued the art of performance while favoring the written expression of music, which has had a profound impact on varied musical forms. This emphasis on writings has disfavored some plaintiffs who have sought greater protection for their own performance practice, while at the same time disfavored some defendants whose creative, non-notated performance practice should allow a greater scope for their borrowing. This Article suggests that courts in interpreting infringement in music cases must look beyond the visual-textual and take better account of how music is actually perceived and practiced.
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Abstract Intangibles such as intellectual property rights are an increasingly important source of value for businesses today. This increasing importance has significance for the uses of intangibles by companies and the mechanisms and... more
Abstract Intangibles such as intellectual property rights are an increasingly important source of value for businesses today. This increasing importance has significance for the uses of intangibles by companies and the mechanisms and behaviors by which companies extract value from intangibles. The manners in which holders of intellectual property rights wield such rights can play an important role in shaping the effective functioning of intellectual property frameworks.
The credit crisis highlights fundamental changes in financial markets that have significant implications for financial industry risk management and regulation. Contemporary financial markets are increasingly characterized by pervasive... more
The credit crisis highlights fundamental changes in financial markets that have significant implications for financial industry risk management and regulation. Contemporary financial markets are increasingly characterized by pervasive trading by many market participants.'Technological and financial innovations in recent years have contributed to the development of pervasive trading cultures. For example, trading in over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives and other innovative financial products has fundamentally transformed financial markets.
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Abstract The rising power of traders has fundamentally transformed financial market networks and risks. Further, the increased complexity of traded securities and trading strategies within financial networks has magnified shortcomings of... more
Abstract The rising power of traders has fundamentally transformed financial market networks and risks. Further, the increased complexity of traded securities and trading strategies within financial networks has magnified shortcomings of existing industry risk management practices as well as dominant regulatory regimes. Financial markets are ultimately places where people trade. Broader social and technological changes have altered the nature of trading activities in financial markets. Innovations in technology, ...
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Abstract Discussions of both “piracy” and “biopiracy” often start from questionable assumptions about the nature of borrowing. In addition, legal treatment of local or traditional knowledge is often based on inadequate conceptions of the... more
Abstract Discussions of both “piracy” and “biopiracy” often start from questionable assumptions about the nature of borrowing. In addition, legal treatment of local or traditional knowledge is often based on inadequate conceptions of the nature of culture and borrowing among cultures. Uses of local or traditional knowledge are embedded within an at times contentious discourse between North and South and have led to accusations of misappropriation, exploitation and “biopiracy.” This discourse reflects historical ...
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The Peruvian military is one of Latin America's leading human rights violators. 10 In its decade long struggle against leftist guerrillas, the military has shown contempt for human rights standards. 11 Suspected guerrilla... more
The Peruvian military is one of Latin America's leading human rights violators. 10 In its decade long struggle against leftist guerrillas, the military has shown contempt for human rights standards. 11 Suspected guerrilla sympathizers have been tortured, raped," disappeared," and murdered with impunity. 12 These acts have gone largely unaddressed by civilian and military authorities willing to justify" extreme measures" under prevailing circumstances. 13
... A Google search for corpo-rate governance events reveals a familiar list of names: Enron, World-Com, Conseco, Global Crossing and Tyco, and more recently Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Computer Associates and Disney. Such ...
In the digital era, many African countries sit at the crossroads of a potential future that will be shaped by digital-era technologies with existing laws and institutions constructed under conditions of colonial and post-colonial... more
In the digital era, many African countries sit at the crossroads of a potential future that will be shaped by digital-era technologies with existing laws and institutions constructed under conditions of colonial and post-colonial authoritarian rule. In Disrupting Africa, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa examines this intersection and shows how it encompasses existing and new zones of contestation based on ethnicity, religion, region, age, and other sources of division. Arewa highlights specific collisions between the old and the new, including in the 2020 #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, which involved young people engaging with varied digital era technologies who provoked a violent response from rulers threatened by the prospect of political change. In this groundbreaking work, Arewa demonstrates how lawmaking and legal processes during and after colonialism continue to frame contexts in which digital technologies are created, implemented, regulated, and used in Africa today.