I have been following the drama that has pitted the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) against local artists over the last two weeks and I realized a couple of things that I thought I should share with you.
First, it’s pretty obvious that MCSK failed at dissemination of information. You see, most artists received Ksh. 2530 from the body and they didn’t really know what the money was for and this led them to conclude that it was payment for their songs.
However, if MCSK had made them understand that the money was distributed evenly to the 14,000 members of the body as a flat payment i.e. by virtue of belonging to the organisation, I don’t think any of them would have come out to protest.
When the storm started brewing, MCSK explained that the money that most artists had received was for being a member of the organisation. They also told artists that they would get their royalties in October. However, it was too little too late.
Secondly, MCSK needs to be transparent with artists because this tiff about royalties has existed since the early 2000s when the body was formulated. I can still remember the day Poxy Presha staged a protest while demanding his dues.
Artists should get a breakdown of their royalties to see how the final amount that they are getting was arrived at. Otherwise, we’ll continue seeing situations where they wait for artists to raise a red flag and then they are given more money.
Lastly, MCSK should create a portal where artists can log in and update their new songs. As things are now, an artist has to go to their offices, presumably with a CD, to let the body know that they has a new song. Why is this still happening in 2019?
