This archive report was first published on 20 August 2019.
On August 20, 2019, the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) faced intense backlash over its distribution of royalties to local performing artistes. The Content Management Organisation (CMO) collected royalties on behalf of music producers and performing artistes and sent 13,967 artists Sh2,500 each as royalties, totaling Sh37 million.
Milka Kulati, MCSK Chief Executive, defended the distribution, stating, 'I would say that is the highest collection distribution that MCSK has ever done.' However, the claim is difficult to verify due to the lack of a breakdown of the collections made along various categories and parameters.
The CMO collects fees in terms of licensing to public premises that play music, with 27 wide-ranging categories, including aircraft, roadshows, and elevators. Licence fees range from Sh5,000 per year to a percentage of income made, such as the case for concerts.
The issue has been the registered artistes' failure to provide accurate and up-to-date data on the licence fees collected from the various categories in each reporting period, raising eyebrows given the continuous nature of licensing.
In 2016, the CMO was put on the spot by music group Elani, which claimed Sh16,000 royalties paid to them that year was not reflective of the massive airplay its songs were receiving. MCSK later paid the group Sh300,000 as compensation after the issue caused an uproar with other artists sharing similar complaints.
