Tanzanian artists are set to receive Tsh1.5 billion (Sh74 million) in royalties from the country's blank tape levy collections.
Kenyan creatives would also have reason to celebrate, with Sh150 million already collected under the same levy. However, unlike in Tanzania, the money remains locked away in government accounts, frozen by the court.
The Blank Tape Levy, also known as Private Copying Remuneration (PCR), was introduced in both countries in 2022 through amendments to their respective Copyright Acts.
The levy is a small fee collected from importers of blank media and recording devices into the country.
In an exclusive interview, the Tanzanian Deputy Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Hamisi Mwinjuma (also known as Mwana FA), revealed that the Tanzanian government, through its Revenue Authority (TRA), had collected its share of the PCR, which it plans to distribute to artistes in a few weeks.
“It's close to two years since we introduced the levy with amendments to our Copyright laws. .. But this revenue collection is only from a few imported recording items, as this was to serve as a demonstration of how the levy should be charged. We expect to collect and distribute more when other items, such as smartphones, are included,” Mwinjuma revealed.
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Photo credit: Pool
Every time an importer brings in gadgets such as memory cards, laptops, smartphones, flash disks, photocopiers, printers, decoders, smart TVs, game consoles or smart watches, a portion of the price goes towards compensating artists, authors and producers.
For example, importing video game consoles, memory cards, and portable hard drives incurs a levy of Sh200 per unit in Kenya.
For computers, smartphones, and smart watches, the government of Kenya charges 1.5 percent of each unit's purchase price to go towards the levy. This means that a smartphone imported at Sh30,000, Sh450 is charged towards the levy.
The logic behind the blank tape levy is that, since these devices can store and copy copyrighted content, meaning your favourite songs, movies, or software, then the copyright holders (artistes) deserve compensation for the potential revenue lost when one makes that personal backup or copy for personal consumption. In simple terms, every time you back up a song or copy a movie for your personal use, the Copyright law assumes that a small fee has already gone toward paying the artist, actor, or author for that privilege.
“It's important to note that Blank Tape levy is a different royalty on its own and not the same as Public Performance and Broadcasting royalties that are being collected separately by two Collective Management organizations. Which will also be distributed to artistes,” adds Mwinjuma.
Meanwhile, in Kenya, the government has faced challenges in its quest to distribute Sh150 million to artistes it has so far collected from a similar blank tape levy.
In March 2025, Ms Ummi Bashir, the Principal Secretary for Culture, Arts and Heritage, told the National Assembly Committee on Sports and Culture that the Kenya Copyright Board (Kecobo) had collected Sh104 million since 2023 of the blank tape levy.
The collection has been ongoing. However, three years down the line, the government has been unable to distribute the money due to an ongoing case filed by the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), which is challenging the distribution of the millions.
In a recent interview, Kecobo's in-house counsel revealed the collection had accumulated to Sh150 million.
“The case, which stopped the distribution of the blank tape levy, which is about Sh150 million, which was filed by MCSK, is still ongoing. The solution would be if MCSK can withdraw the case, then we can have access to the funds and then distribute them to the members.” Alex Omanga, Kecobo’s Senior Legal Counsel, revealed.
According to the Copyright Act, those who are set to benefit from the distribution of the levy are musicians, actors, producers, scriptwriters, book publishers, and visual artists.
Since the introduction of the levy, the collection has been done by three bodies, namely Kecobo, Kenya Trade Networks Agency (KenTrade), and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
KenTrade invoices and importers and manufacturers after confirming the number of devices being released to the Kenyan market. KRA is KenTrade’s collection agent, which then transfers the money to Kecobo for distribution to respective copyright holders - the creatives (actors, musicians, scriptwriters, etc.).
Kecobo has been keen to distribute the millions collected so far, while it gets to keep 20 percent, but that effort has been dealt a blow following the filing of the suit by MCSK at the High Court.
The collective management organisation argues that the procedure of distributing the money by Kecobo lacks transparency and fairness.
