Elani’s Royalties Speach Causes This Effect.
MCSK, PRSK & KAMP Directed by Parliamentary ICT & Energy Committee Provide Records
Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), Performance Rights Society of Kenya (PRSK) and Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) to present their two year records to The Parliamentary ICT and Energy Committee by Tuesday next week.
The organizations been directed to present reports, audited accounts, breakdown indicating how much has been received and paid to artists over the past two years, and a full list of members by close of business Tuesday next week. The directive was issued by the Committee Chairman Jamleck Kamau.
“The committee today has called for the creation of one national body that will oversee collection and management of royalties in the music industry instead of the three current Collection Management Organizations (CMOs).” According to Mr.Kamau. He (Kamau) stated that inadequately clear laws, vested interest and poor leadership are a big problem in the music industry that expose musicians to victimizers who take advantage of the loopholes in the law to benefit themselves at the expense of the musicians.
Johnson Sakaja, the Kenya Youth Parliamentarians Association Chairman who was also in attendance at the meeting said that the 60 percent Kenyan content airplay amendment should be implemented in order to generate more income for the musicians. He accused media houses of not paying required royalties adding that the music industry could solve a lot of unemployment issues if it is streamlined. Mr. Sakaja declaimed that Safaricom makes about Ksh. 600 million monthly from Skiza Tunes, yet only 15 percent of this revenue generated is allocated to the Musician while the mobile operator keeps 85 percent. “There should be regulations to ensure that the musician receive 70 percent as they are the sole owners of the songs while the operators should realistically take only 30 percent,” according to Mr. Sakaja.
He also intimated that KYPA plans to convene workshops with artists countrywide to train them to understand the law so that they are not deprived of their rightful compensation. Mr. Sakaja reiterated that the role played by CMOs should be played by a government body that can be audited publicly as the current CMOs are private institutions and cannot be audited by the office of the auditor general.
The musicians who presented a petition to the committee accused the CMOs of unjustly benefitting from their work without considering them.
Led by their chairperson Ben Githae, the musicians accused the CMOs of exploiting them and expending revenue that rightly belongs to the musicians.
