Bill seeks better pay deal for local musicians
Kenyan musicians will soon sing all the way to the bank if a Bill by the Sports, Culture and Arts ministry becomes law.
This comes after the ministry embarked on reforming revenue-sharing and tax regimes that have disadvantaged musicians, creating confusion in the industry over the royalties to pay musicians.
The Music Bill seeks to establish a single agency, preferably at the Kenya Revenue Authority, to collect musicians’ dues.
REVENUE-SHARING
Speaking at a meeting with representatives of the Kenya Gospel and Secular Artistes Federation in Nairobi on Thursday, Arts and Culture Principal Secretary Joe Okudo said the government was reforming the lopsided revenue-sharing and tax regimes that stifled creativity among musicians.
“It is time we put a stop to the confusion in the industry which has seen unnecessary duplication of roles by various agencies and allowed room for masqueraders,” he said.
Revenue due to artistes is currently collected by three agencies — the Music Copyright Society of Kenya, Kenya Association of Music Producers and Performance Rights Society of Kenya — with the funds coming from matatus licence fees (Sh3,000 per matatu annually), mobile telephone ringtones, broadcast, hotel and restaurant fees (ranging between Sh5,000 and Sh200,000) and deejaying licence fees pegged at Sh30,000 annually.
Among the artistes who met the PS were Rufftone, Phil J, Influx Swaga, Man Ingwe and Abedi.
EARN MORE
The musicians agreed that streamlining collections through a one-stop agency and issuing a single business licence to consumers would reduce overhead costs and earn more money for them.
They said in the Skiza Tune scheme, for example, they ended up with barely 10 per cent of the money paid because of the skewed sharing formula.
The PS also pointed out that businesses “get distressed and harassed when different agents, including dubious outfits, call at their premises in the name of collecting this or that fee”.
