MCSK explains why some Kenyan musicians are not getting their royalties
The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) has faulted some of their members for failure to follow the society’s regulations, hence preventing them from receiving any benefits.
Speaking during MCSK’s 31st Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, Mr Lazarus Muoki Muli, the Chairman of the Governing Council, said MCSK has 15,362 members with an additional 168 new members joining the Society in the preceding year.
However, he noted that the society’s biggest hurdle is refusal by about 3,144 members to follow MCSK regulations.
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“They have refused to update, correct and provide MCSK Documentation and Distribution Department with the correct details of mobile phone number, Kenya Revenue Authority PIN (I-Tax), national ID and email addresses. In line with Provision of MCSK Distribution Rules, all unidentified/unutilized royalties within three years shall be ploughed back into the administration and management of the Company, therefore time is of the essence to ensure that this anomaly in members’ records is sorted out,” Mr Muli said.
He also advised members who had not been receiving their royalties and any communication from MCSK to visit the nearest MCSK office cross the country and ask for assistance.
As a solution to make it easier for members to register and update their information with the society, Mr Muli announced the development of an MCSK app that is in the final stages of testing.
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“The app is going to improve the quality of database and records MCSK holds of rights holders, reduce the time it takes to approve and issue membership numbers to new applicants and make it easy to verify originality of works submitted to reduce cases of infringement and duplicity. The app will allocate all the works MCSK uploads onto the database a fingerprint that would be a unique identifier for every song in MCSK controlled catalogue,” he explained.
He said in time, the app will be used to monitor use of music in public spaces, broadcast and digital platforms so as to generate log sheets for the purposes of distributing royalties collected.
This move is set to increase the amount of royalties musicians will get following annual complaints by artistes of receiving paltry earnings in comparison to the money they put into developing and marketing their music.