Row over royalties as regulator takes a firm stand on collection
Mr Edward Sigei, the chief executive of the Kenya Copyright Board. The board is out to streamline the collection of royalties for Kenyan entertainers. PHOTO| COURTESY
What you need to know:
Royalties, or dividends for artistes, are one of the biggest earners of singers in some developed countries.
But, like many other artistes in Africa, Kenyan artistes have been receiving a raw deal compared to those in the developed world with better structures of collecting and distributing royalties.
Such money is collected from music users and distributed to singers at certain specified periods. It might be monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually, depending on the arrangement of the CMOs.
Kenyan musicians have over the years cried foul over the mismanagement of their royalties and dividends. Formed and licensed in 1983, Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) was the sole organisation mandated to collect money from music consumers before distributing it to musicians as royalties.
But could the longest serving collecting management organisation (CMO) be on its deathbed? Its license to collect loyalties on behalf of artistes was recalled last March by the country’s copyright regulator, Kenya Copyright board (Kecobo), over allegations of misappropriation of funds meant to benefit local musicians.
