By Khalifa Hemed
Published May 28, 2020
Musicians in Kenya are, with effect from April 2020,set to benefit from a Sh2 Billion royalty kitty.
Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, announced on April 6 that musicians would start earning higher amounts of royalties through a system set up by the Government following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between collective management organisations (CMOs)–Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP), Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK)–and the Government’s Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, and Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO).
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Kenyatta had in January 2020 directed that all payments of royalties to musicians be channeled through a single centrally-managed account at the Kenya Copyright Board in order to reduce bureaucracy and place more money in the hands of musicians as the annual payout kitty would be increased from Sh200 Million to Sh2 Billion.This is a whopping 10 000 percent increase.
The President said the Sh200 Million paid annually would now be paid per month, not per year.
“This translates to over Sh2 billion going into the pockets of Kenyan artists. These payments will begin this week in line with the pledge I made in January,” Kenyatta said in his Presidential address.
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In his State of the Nation Address on January 14, President Uhuru Kenyatta said, “To receive royalties, Content Service Providers will be required to channel all payments of royalties through a single, centrally managed account at the Kenya Copyright Board. This will enable oversight by the regulator and ensure that the collection and distribution accounts are easily auditable. The Kenya Copyrights Board, with assistance of the Ministry of ICT, has already reviewed and agreed on the Tariffs for 2020. These tariffs are to be gazetted and will form the basis on which compliance will be monitored. In this regard, I direct the Ministry of ICT, in consultation with the AG’s office, to ensure the tariffs are gazetted within the next 30 days.”
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“Further,” the President had said, “I direct the Ministry to remove conditions requiring digital platform to only work through licensed Content Service Providers. This will enable musicians to work directly with platforms such as Skiza. I further direct the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, and Ministry of ICT to ensure that public service vehicles, the hospitality industry, and broadcasters respectively, meet all their obligations in paying the required tariffs. This will be a basic requirement for renewal of any business licences for the broadcasting houses, matatus, hotels, bars and other such premises.”
The President, in the address made from the port city of Mombasa, had noted: “These new measures will see the rise of tariffs collected and will create immense savings on the processes of collecting royalties. It is estimated that the new system will see an increase in collections from a previous Sh200 Million per year to an estimated 2 billion shillings per year, a tenfold increase.”
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During the April 6 address, Kenyatta directed the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage to set aside an extra Sh100 Million from the Sports Fund as a safety net for artists, actors and musicians against the effects of the Coronavirus. However, a month later, following complaints as to why the money the President had said would be available immediately to enable ‘artists, actors and musicians’ continue entertaining the public through TV, radio and the internet hadn’t been disbursed, the Government changed the pledged Sh100 Million from a COVID-19 grant to a conditional work-for-pay three-month stimulus programme.
This followed protests from artists through KAMP that represents producers of sound recordings, MCSK that represents musicians and songwriters, and PRISK that represents performers in recorded films and series and background vocalists and instrumentalists.
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Launching the programme now renamed ‘Work-for-Pay: 100M for Artist, Musicians & Actors Stimulus Package’ at Kenya Cultura;l Centre on May 11, Amina C Mohamed, the Minister for Sports, Culture and Heritage, said it was ‘in line with the Executive Order issued by H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta on 6th April 2020, directing the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund to avail Kshs. 100 million to cushion those in the creative industry during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic’.
She said the Work-for-Pay funds would be distributed through a campaign dubbed ‘Together at Home’ that would be ‘spearheaded by Government Agencies and Departments, as stipulated by the Regulations establishing the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund.”
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Amina Mohamed said not just musicians but artists drawn from various forms of creativity, would “be required to produce works that entertain and educate Kenyans and the world on the safety and health precautions to stop the spread of COVID-19. These artistic productions will be carried through various assets set up by the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage such as “KULTURE TV” and other collaborative media outlets.”
“This campaign will use entertainment to centralise three crucial aspects of our society: the importance of new avenues for work, creative community education and sustained mental well-being for all Kenyans during this period. The Kshs. 100m is therefore not a reservoir of free funds, but a provision to educate, innovate, sustain and improve our output as a sector. The objective is to continue developing and nurturing talent to ensure that the sector remains a significant contributor to our economy post-COVID.” said Dr Mohamed during the launch.
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Mohamed, who observed that the creative sector was to have contributed Sh165 Billion to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020, said the artistic community is an important arm of the country’s economy and that the Government supports it.
