Mpa Beat was founded to empower Ugandan and East African creators to monetize their talent freely and securely without exploitation. We strictly enforce copyright compliance and immediately respond to verified notices of alleged intellectual property infringement in accordance with the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, 2006 (Uganda), Cap. 222, as amended by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act 8 of 2026, assented 29 April 2026 and gazetted 22 May 2026), and international digital copyright treaties.
Under the Act, copyright owners enjoy exclusive legal rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, broadcast, and communicate their musical works to the public. Neighbouring rights similarly protect performers, producers of sound recordings, and broadcasting stations. Any unauthorized distribution without valid license or consent may constitute civil and criminal infringement.
The 2026 amendments reinforce these protections for the digital era by increasing penalties for piracy and unauthorised broadcasting, expressly prohibiting unauthorised streaming, and strengthening technological measures against the circumvention of digital locks. Infringement now attracts a fine of up to 2,500 currency points (UGX 50 million) or imprisonment for up to ten years, while circumventing a technological protection measure carries a fine of up to 2,000 currency points or imprisonment for up to seven years. Copyright assignments, licences, and transfers must be in writing and registered with the Registrar of Copyright within 60 days, and economic rights transferred to another party revert to the author after a maximum of twenty years. Performers and producers of sound recordings are also guaranteed equitable remuneration whenever their works are broadcast or performed in public.
If you are the copyright holder (or an authorized legal representative) and believe that your musical composition, sound recording, or album artwork is hosted on Mpa Beat without permission, submit a formal notice containing:
DJs uploading nonstops and mixtapes are expressly alerted during upload that they must own copyright or have verified rights and authorization for all tracks included.
If any artist complains that their work was included in a nonstop, mixtape, or mashup without their notice or authorization, the nonstop can and will be removed from Mpabeat. Artists may click the dedicated “Artist Copyright Claim” button directly on any nonstop's song page to submit an instant dispute.
Upon receiving a valid copyright claim, our Trust & Safety desk immediately initiates temporary stream suspension of the flagged audio asset while notifying the uploading user.
If no valid licensing proof or statutory defense is furnished within 24 to 48 hours, the asset is permanently purged from platform search indexing and cloud storage buckets.
The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Act, 2026 introduced a statutory blocking and takedown power. Under section 49A, the Registrar of Copyright or a copyright owner may issue a formal notice of infringement to a service provider, requiring that provider to block, take down, or obstruct access to the infringing content. Mpa Beat is a service provider in this sense, and we treat a valid notice as a binding compliance instruction.
A notice must be given in the form required by section 30 of the Electronic Transactions Act, Cap. 99. When we receive one, we suspend the flagged content, preserve the relevant upload and download records, and cooperate with the Registrar to identify the uploader where the law requires it.
A notice issued by the Registrar is only valid where the copyright owner holds a certificate of registration as proof of ownership. A service provider that fails to comply with a valid notice commits an offence and is liable to a fine of up to 2,000 currency points (about UGX 40 million) or imprisonment for up to seven years, and the court may additionally order compensation to the rights owner. Mpa Beat therefore applies statutory notices in full and without delay.
If you believe your music was taken down in error (such as holding a valid sample license, public domain material, or mistaken identity), you may submit a counter-notice explaining the lawful basis for your distribution rights.
If received, a copy will be forwarded to the original claimant. Unless the claimant files an action seeking a court order within 14 business days, the song will be restored to the platform.
Mpa Beat maintains a strict zero-tolerance repeat infringer policy. Accounts and creator profiles of users who repeatedly upload infringing audio or submit fraudulent takedown notices are permanently terminated and banned from registering new artist profiles.
