MacG. Picture: Instagram
Podcast host MacG has broken down the music rights dispute involving DJ Maphorisa and Samthing Soweto on the latest episode of “Podcast and Chill”, surprisingly, coming to the defence of ‘Phori’.
MacG, real name Macgyver Mukhwevho, who makes and produces music himself, gave viewers an explanation on the complex relationship between mastering and publishing rights in the latest episode of his Podcast and Chill With Mac G show.
He explained that there were two ways to make money in music, master and publishing rights.
MacG explained: “Publishing is what you get when people stream your song, like on iTunes, or when it plays on the radio. But the person who owns the master owns the song.”
MacG continued by addressing the misunderstanding surrounding Samthing Soweto’s claims to master rights, emphasising that simply contributing vocals is not enough to own the master.
MacG explained that owning the master requires a financial contribution toward the production and promotion of the song.
“In this situation, Samthing Soweto was wrong because when you own a master it is like a partnership,” MacG explained.
“It goes beyond just a feature. You have to financially contribute or you have to contribute in some way.
“You can’t just say, ‘I laced a dope vocal, so I deserve the master,’ because when that song goes out, it has got promo, videos, and all of that requires money. If you’re not spending any money on that, you don’t have any entitlement to own the master,” said the podcaster.
He further emphasised how master rights work in the broader music industry.
“That’s how record labels own the masters. Because like, Ambitious would go, ‘Emtee, this is your song, but we are going to put you on the radio,’ because people pay to get songs on radio.
“There are videos and PR, all of those accumulates to an amount. So, if you are not contributing to that amount, you can’t just own the master.”
MacG said in his assessment, that Samthing Soweto wanted the whole pie, but he could not get the whole pie because he is just a feature.
“For him to want a master he has to substantiate to say I want the master because I did this.”
MacG further clarified how music ownership works in collaborative projects. He explained that if one person owns the master but several people contribute to the song, they all share the publishing rights.
While the master owner controls the song, those involved still receive a portion of the publishing revenue from streams and plays.
“That means every time we gets stream, everyone gets a percentage. But we don’t own the song, the person who owns the master owns the song”.
MacG: "In this situation Samthing Soweto was WRONG..." 😳😳😳
— YaseBlock B 🇸🇿 (@ThisIsColbert) September 9, 2024
The YouTuber says to him it sounded like Samthing Soweto wanted the whole pie but he couldn't get it cause he's just a feature.#PodcastAndChill 🤭
Mihlali R Kelly Somizi Tso Vilakazi Latoya Musa Jay Z Kamo Mphela pic.twitter.com/9JayZqjAmZ
Sol Phenduka, MacG’s co-host also weighed in, criticising the traditional record label model. Phenduka is also a musician and DJ.
“The deal between a record label and an artist is exploitative. It does not make it right, but it is exploitative,” Phenduka said.
“Record labels sometimes offer you money for production costs, which means they own the master because they have paid for that master or they have paid for the creation of that master.”
Phenduka further explained that copyrights are divided into mechanical rights and performance rights.
“A producer or songwriter always falls within the copyright part of things, meaning intellectual property is still attached,” he said.
“Masters give the owner control over how the recording is used, but that doesn’t negate the copyright holders’ entitlement to royalties.”
“Masters simply means it is the guy who can decide how to license the stuff out who can decide how this recording is going to get exploited”.
Phenduka clarified that while Maphorisa owns the master rights due to his financial investment in the recording, other contributors like songwriters and producers still keep their intellectual property rights and are entitled to royalties from the song’s airplay.
IOL