MCSK Officials And police Officers Raid Nairobi Based Radio Station 1FM! Find Out Why Here
Last week, word rent the airwaves about MCSK officials storming 1FM studios and I had to get to the bottom of the whole affair. i made some calls to attempt to clarify the reason for what happened. But let us start at the beginning of the entire affair.
On Thursday the 30th of January, reports reached me about MCSK officials raiding 1FM in the company of police officers. What followed next was very interesting as I came across a tweet from the official MCSK twitter handle:
BREAKING: @PoliceKE in the company of @theMCSK raids @onefmke for copyright infringement in their broadcasting operations!
— MCSK (@TheMCSK) January 31, 2014
BREAKING: @PoliceKE in the company of @theMCSK raids @onefmke for copyright infringement in their broadcasting operations!
I then begun to frantically make calls trying to get to the bottom of the matter. I called everyone from Baba Ghafla to MCSK’s Debbie Asila and finally broke new ground on Friday in form of a statement but I couldn’t do anything because I was time barred.
Well, Today, I have gotten an official statement from MCSK about why they took the steps they took, what they hope to gain from such bold measures and what the status of the situation is as of 4pm today.
Check out the official MCSK statement below:
MCSK SUES ONE FM , KBC AND OTHERS
The Music Copyright Society of Kenya has embarked on an aggressive legal
pursuit of all broadcasting stations that have failed to take up MCSK
license for Broadcasting of musical works .
The license issued by MCSK covers both the music works in music videos ,
music albums / cd’s and also covers musical works in audio visual works (
movies , television programmes etc ) .
MCSK has over the past years been negotiating with some of the defaulting
broadcasters and it was after lengthy negotiations where ONE FM , KBC and
others in the pipeline , failed , refused and / or neglected to comply with
the legal requirement for taking of broadcasting license from MCSK . There
are several other broadcasting stations that have been lined up for Court
action if they do not acquire the MCSK license such as MEDIA MAX LTD , SOUND
ASIA .
The Court Orders , copy of which is attached herewith , allowed MCSK to take
an inventory ( evidence ) of the actual infringement by ONE FM and KBC , and
this evidence will be used in Court when the case comes up for hearing on
the 4 th Feb 2014 .
MCSK shall be seeking a permanent injunction to restrain both ONE FM and KBC
from broadcasting any and all musical works in KENYA since MCSK controls
both local and international works . This could then mean that both ONE FM
and KBC will be off air when the permanent injunction is granted .
It really would be a shame since the two media houses have positioned
themselves as promoting local music yet they are not paying royalties . The
local musicians who they seek to promote cannot at all benefit since no
monies are paid to them by MCSK since no royalties are paid by the said
media houses .
In a statement released by MCSK , the Society impressed upon all
broadcasting stations the need to comply with the law . MCSK stated it shall
be relentless in its pursuit for the royalties due to artists .
MCSK also wished to congratulate all other broadcasting stations that have
been compliant with the law including THE STANDARD GROUP , RADIO AFRICA
GROUP , ROYAL MEDIA SERVICES .
Signed :
CS . MAURICE OKOTH
CEO , MCSK
