The Music Copyright Society Kenya has said it will pay artists Sh1,250 in royalties for 2023 on Thursday next week.
MCSK Chief Executive Ezekiel Mutua said on Sunday evening they have Sh20 million which will be shared equally amongst 16,000 members.
“We were supposed to do this on Jamhuri Day but we had other engagements. The Cabinet Secretary told us to have structures and on January 25, we will disburse millions of shillings,” he said.
He said the Sh20 million will be the first batch of disbursement as they await more payments from other platforms like Google.
The monies, he said, will be distributed in two ways in general and scientific ways.
“General way is where so long as you are a member, we give general rates so that every musician receives something. Then we have a scientific way where we have software that shows where your music was played.”
The announcement quickly elicited reactions on social media with pioneer Genge musician Herbert Nakitare popularly known as Nonini terming it a sad state of affairs.
“Sad sana poleni wasanii wenzangu (So sad, sorry my fellow musicians),” he said on X on Monday.
Other users on the social media platform made light of Mutua’s announcement wondering whether the Sh1,250 every musician will receive is for withdrawal purposes.
(Waseme we will give musicians lunch money in a few. This is really crazy,” @willkirima said.
“Ukitumiwa yako unitumie basi (Once you receive your share, send it to me,” @MwBomba14 told Nonini.
Meanwhile, Mutua encouraged musicians to be deliberate in churning out music that appeals to the masses to reap big as they put in place new structures for paying royalties.
The CEO expressed optimism that things will get better going forward as they focus on ensuring musicians benefit from their craft.
“We have published new tariffs that have raised the value of music. The government has supported us, we now have new tariffs which were lowered in 2019. We have signed contracts with Google, broadcasters, we have signed with matatus to ensure that artistes don’t just sing and go home, they will have something that will enable them to live decent lives,” Mutua said during a ceremony.
“The musicians themselves must release good music that is appealing just like we have just sung Mali Safi Chito, it doesn’t have to be dirty with insults.”
Mutua said the government is on its part keen on ensuring musicians’ Copyright is respected and are handsomely compensated by consumers of their creative works.
“All these structures will ensure that in the few coming years, our musicians will be among the richest like is the case in the United States, the UK or other countries,” he said.
He said the government will not falter in the application of the law in managing the musicians.
“Within one year, we have new tariffs that have been gazette by the ministry…we are working very closely with the Kenya Copyright Board and I can assure the artists that from the 25th they will see the collaboration between the government and Collective Management Organizations.”