J. Joel Baloyi

Joel Baloyi works as Senior Law Lecturer at the School of Law, Department of Mercantile Law, at the University of South Africa, where he teaches Intellectual Property Law and Commercial Law. Joel has vast experience in the entertainment industry and has consulted in almost all areas of the industry (music, literary publishing, drama, film, television, policy and cultural administration). For many years he worked as Head of Legal Services and Company Secretary for the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (“SAMRO”), Africa’s leading collective management organization (CMO). In this position he assumed many leadership roles, including lobbying for the industry. He has been actively involved in entertainment industry activities and has frequently been invited to speak on Music Rights Law at government events as well as industry meetings and conferences. He has also appeared on national television in South Africa (both ETV and the SABC, including the Rights & Recourse programme) and on radio on a number of occasions to address issues of Music Law and the music industry at large, and has presented at the WIPO Intellectual Property Summer School. He has furthermore been a guest lecturer on this subject at Wits University, and was, in November 2012, invited to present the 2012 Distinguished Visiting Intellectual Property Scholar lecture at the Southern Illinois University School of law. He has also presented papers on the area of copyright and related rights at local and international academic conferences, and has written on the subject.

From 2007 until 2011 Joel was a member of the 20-member International Legal Committee of the International Confederation of the Societies of Authors and Composers (with the French acronym, “CISAC”), the international “mother body” of CMOs. He has been a member of the Black Lawyers Association, where he has presented at its Entertainment Law seminars and designed the Music Law material. He is also a member of the National Bar Council of South Africa and has, since 2010, been a member of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers (IAEL). He contributed a chapter in the 2014 IAEL publication, titled “Licensing of Music – From BC to AD (Before the Change / After Digital), where he focussed on the African environment. He has served in the boards of several music and copyright industry bodies, such as MOSHITO, a music industry initiative which organises annual music business and exhibition conferences; the Cape Music Industry Commission, a commission formed by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism for purposes of developing the Western Cape music industry; the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), a reprographic rights organisation (RRO), and currently serves as Interim Chairman of the Cultural Industry Legal and Advisory Centre (CILAC), a newly-formed public interest organisation aimed at provide indigent legal services to artists. He is also a member of the US-based Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA). Apart from Copyright and Entertainment Law, Joel has interest and experience in Corporate Governance, Corporate Compliance and Non-Profit Law. He was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa in 2006 and is currently reading for his doctoral (LLD) degree in Music Rights Law at the University of South Africa.