Local musicians will receive their royalties this week � COSBOTS
Chippa Legodimo | Wednesday April 15, 2015 15:05
This follows a distribution workshop held at Thapong Visual Arts Centre last week Saturday.
The organisation’s communications manager, Tlotlo Kgakatsi, said that it was important for musicians to have gone through the workshop to make them understand the system of collecting and distributing royalities.
Kgakatsi however declined to mention how much the highest earning artiste would receive.
“We had the largest number of musicians ever, 130 artistes turned up and we were happy with the turn up. The money will be paid into their accounts this week. It’s likely to be a long process because we are reffering to many individuals,” he said.
Although he believes artistes came out of the workshop better informed on the processes and operations of COSBOTS, Kgakgatsi noted that there were concerns about the slow manner in which the organisation was delivering its services.
“We understand the musicians’ concerns and frustrations but they should understand that we are dealing with a very technical area. We have observed that many of our artistes’ knowledge of this industry is limited especially the business side,” he said.
Despite musicians’ outcry over the confusion about the collection and distribution processes, a press release from COSBOTS said distribution manager, Ditiro Chaa had informed artistes that the distribution process reflects why it is mathematically impossible to derive a set fee per song played, because the amounts paid by users differ on the basis of the relevance of music, and the play-lists differ according to the preference of the user and their clientele.
COSBOTS has come under fire from some musicians who questioned the licensing process saying it only served to disadvantage them. The distribution method has also been highly scruitinised.
Many people were shocked when traditional music artiste Shumba Ratshega was among the lowest earners at just above P200, during the last distribution, despite the fact that his hit number Leso la Monnamogolo created a lot of hype and received rave airplay on local radio stations.