Silverio Omari
The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) has reported a significant increase in royalty collections for Kenyan musicians, rising from a previous Ksh.600,000 to an impressive Ksh.2.2 million.
In a statement released on Thursday, KECOBO announced that as of June 18, 2024, the total collection had reached Ksh.22 million. This surge occurred just 10 days after granting the sole license for royalty collection to the Performing and Audio-Visual Rights Society of Kenya (PAVRISK), effectively relieving the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) and the Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) of their roles.
“The Board notes that following the issuance of a Collective Management Organization license to Performing and Audio-Visual Rights Society of Kenya (PAVRISK), collection of royalties from music users has increased from a daily collection of Ksh.600,000 to Ksh.2.2 million daily,” stated KECOBO.
“As of June 18, Ksh.22 million had been collected. This was 10 days after the issuance of the license, showing a significant improvement from the previous collections by the three CMOs jointly.”
Under the leadership of Joshua Kutuny, the board anticipates daily royalty collections to grow to Ksh.3 million and is planning to establish recording studios in all 47 counties. Additionally, KECOBO is collaborating with relevant government ministries to create a program that will enable Kenyan artists to secure loans at lower interest rates.
“The daily collection is expected to rise to Ksh.3 million with the introduction of an enhanced system and support from music users. The Board encourages transparency in the collection and distribution of royalties by the CMO to help reduce costs and increase royalty distribution to artists to at least 70 percent of the collection,” KECOBO noted.
“The Board is engaging the Ministry of Cooperatives and Micro/Small and Medium Enterprises Development to establish an artists’ and creatives’ savings cooperative society (SACCO), allowing artists to borrow at lower rates.”
However, MCSK head Ezekiel Mutua has contested KECOBO’s reported daily collection figures, accusing the board of ignoring court orders in a case filed after the sole collection license was issued to PAVRISK. Mr. Mutua claims that PAVRISK could not have collected more than a modest Ksh.5,000 in three weeks.
“When the country is suffering due to the arrogance and incompetence of public officials, you are here disobeying court orders and misleading the public to satisfy your corrupt paymasters. Shame on you,” he wrote on X.
“PAVRISK has collected less than Ksh.5,000 in three weeks, yet you claim it’s over Ksh.20 million. How can your ineffective state corporations not realize it’s not business as usual in Kenya?”
Dj Vnyash
