Abstract:
The strikes to a delicate balance between the interests of authors and other rights holders in the
control and exploitation of their works on the one hand, and society's competing interest in the
free flow of ideas, information, and commerce, on the other hand, is the main purpose of the
copyright regime. Yet, technology is modifying the production and distribution patterns of
copyrighted works, as well as consumer habits. The purpose of this study is to delineate the limit
of exclusive rights of the copyright holder of music under Ethiopian copyright law.. As to the
methodology, the research will apply a mixed research approach. The study will follow the
qualitative approach of data collection tools to get the primary source which is the copyright
proclamation and interview the Ethiopian music copyright and Neighboring right collective
management Organization established by the copyright amendment proclamation and Ethiopian
Intellectual property Office. Books, articles, research, as well as journals, are used as secondary
sources. The study found that the affirmative defense against the exclusive right of musical
composers excludes the music mashup. Thus, unauthorized music mashup infringes the exclusive
rights of musical work in one way and it encourages further creativity if it has done with the
lawful authorization from the copyright holder by balancing the right of the musical author and
encouraging new creation. However, the body established to administer the right of musicians
collectively does not propose anything toward balancing the interest of copyright holders of
music and encouraging new creativity through mashups. Finally, the researcher suggests that
the EMCCMO should work effectively to protect the exclusive right of copyright holders without
affecting the future creation of music.
