MCSK needs to be disbanded to protect Kenyan artists

MCSK is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The GoK sanctioned body which has always been synonymous with plundering artists’monies in royalties came under scrutiny once more and there are no prizes in guessing why.

Khaligraph Jones claps back after MCSK audit report revealed theft of musician’s royalties

Trust that as a result artists are livid after finding out that an independent audit reported misappropriation of artists’ royalties. And this being the toughest year economically in recent memory, you can imagine just how livid most artists were. Willy Paul was the more vocal artist, taking to his Instagram account to insult the individuals working at MCSK. He wasn’t alone in his sentiment and I must say that this bullshit needs to be nipped in the bud.

You see, in Kenya, jobs are scarce and unemployment is rampant. We have a crappy economy and even worse job market. Alot of youth turn to entertainment as a way out of poverty and a way to elevate themselves to a better life.

MCSK Kando! Online music distributor sends a meager Ksh 45 as royalty to singer Laika

This however, doesn’t come by easily as Kenyan record labels do not give artists fair record deals. So most artists opt to go the independent route. They sink they money into the entire process. That starts at paying for studio time, paying to market the song, sometimes paying to have the song played on radio, paying to shoot the music video, buying clothes and wardrobe for the music video.

All this means money is flowing out of their pockets. But when they get the formula right, they begin making money either through performance rates or via royalties and since they own their own masters, this means they can make money into perpetuity. That is ofcourse, if they can make a cut after pirates have done their thing.

Artistes should not fear to ask questions about their money – Khaligraph speaks in regard to MCSK ‘peanut’ payments

Then we have MCSK. A bunch of stuffy nosed beauracrats who sit in offices and demand that artists give them the mandate to collect the royalties. The problem with that is the fact that MCSK has for a long time seemingly only been staffed by people willing to stiff those very same artists and make a killingover their collective royalties.

Octopizzo, several other artists join MCSK to celebrate collective management day

And it just bleeds my heart to think of the artists who sank in their little life savings only for them to get shafted by Covid19 lockdowns and then for MCSK to do this nonsense. And it is because of that I feel MCSK needs to be disbanded. Stop allowing people to scam artists in the name of their being a government agency.

At this rate, you might aswell allow the artists to collect their royalties themselves because they surely cannot do any worse.

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