LION'S SHARE, remaking South African copyright

386pp., paperback, Durham, 2022

“Lion’s Share is a compelling read on the past, present, and future of intellectual property law in South Africa. Veit Erlmann’s in-depth study of the Linda-Disney settlement and the passing of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act provides a tactile retrospective, while his engagement with copyright enforcement and the Copyright Amendment Bill provides insight into the present. The book’s incisive comments on the impact of law and how role players’ positions and politics influence legislative processes give some glimpses of what the future may entail.” Caroline B. Ncube, author of Intellectual Property Policy, Law, and Administration in Africa: Exploring Continental and Subregional Cooperation

“Lion’s Share keenly weaves together an ethnographically based description, discussion, and analysis of copyright. Veit Erlmann’s engagement with law and anthropology has led to a pathbreaking work that tells us something very important about how copyright works and perhaps, at times, does not really work in practice. Lion’s Share breaks new ground in its consideration of the operation of legal and business institutions, particularly as they relate to intellectual property in an African context. This book also advances our understanding of how copyright affects music and musicians.” Olufunmilayo B. Arewa, author of Disrupting Africa: Technology, law, and development

Veit Erlmann is Professor and Endowed Chair of Music History at the University of Texas, author of Reason and Resonance: A history of modern aurality and Music, Modernity, and the Global Imagination: South Africa and the West, and editor of Hearing Cultures: Essays on sound, listening, and modernity.