The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) says its call for pubs, mobile DJs, clubs, restaurants and shopping malls to pay their fair share in royalties for playing local artists’ music is a continuation of the work the organisation has been doing over the years.
Samro is Africa’s leading organisation that oversees the collection and distribution of royalty fees to artists.
According to Mark Rosin, Samro CEO, this call is them ramping up their efforts because of the number of places that have simply stopped paying Samro licence fees during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Copyright Act requires that if one performs music to the public or in a public place, one must have a licence to do so.
“While we understand the difficulties of some, we have been prepared to assist those places which were hurt by the lockdown and approached us for relief. The advent of Covid-19 does not mean, however, that peoples' obligation to pay just ends whereas they continue to use the music,” said Rosin.
This comes against the backdrop of what Rosin believes is a tendency by business owners in South Africa to view such a misdemeanour as insignificant with little to no consequences for contravention, but it actually carries a huge penalty.
“Samro has a licence and sales department that concludes agreements with these types of establishments, broadcasters and so on. This is not a new revenue generation angle. Rather there is a reluctance by many establishments to be licensed and we have to go 'knocking on doors' to licence them. We would like owners to voluntarily contact us to acquire a licence so that composers of music can be paid for the music that is used,” said Rosin.
“(Whether the message is received or not) It’s a wide gamut from total reluctance to complete understanding. Generally though, when the legal position is explained, establishments are inclined to co-operate and obtain a licence,” he added.
During the financial year that ended in June 2020, amounts available for distribution collected by Samro amounted to R400 million. And in instances where establishments book out a DJ to play, they are both required to be licensed.
“The establishment at which the music is played should be in possession of a licence. If not, they need to get licensed. Secondly, DJs themselves should be in possession of a licence. It's not expensive and we encourage DJs to become licensed.
And why is this important, Rosin explains, “Our composers and authors have also been hit hard by Covid-19. The live industry was decimated, broadcast revenues were down and consequently, our members' livelihoods were terribly affected. We want to restore growth to their earning capacity.”
But while this is said to be general knowledge, many establishments’ managers seem to be in the dark about this fact.
Like Ratesh Naidoo*, who agreed to speak to us on condition of anonymity, said it was his first time hearing this and does not know how to feel about it.
“I am managing this family establishment and I know how difficult things have been for us since Covid-19 hit. We are barely keeping our heads above the water, struggling to pay our employees’ salaries, so money is a sensitive topic for us,” he said.
Naidoo manages an eatery that is big on playing local music, and says at their present state if paying royalties poses a threat to their cash flow they would rather not play local music.
“Which is really sad because local music is good music. This is going to be a tight squeeze, really,” he said.
Another entertainment venue owner, known in Dobsonville as Sparks, said he was taken aback by the question and was left confused as to what this would mean for his business.
“I know about the Copyright Act but I didn’t know that it applies to us in that manner. For six years now, I have been running this pub and, I don’t know (my) sister,” he said, baffled.
“Maybe I am ignorant of the rules only applied to people in Sandton for the last years but I won’t lie, I did not know about this. I should do more research,” he added.
Sunday Independent