Back up artists will soon be earning royalties for the work they do with mainstream artists. The list of these artists include guitarists, drummists and dancers. Music producers are also in line to start getting royalties from television and radio should changes in the copyright laws be adopted.
In the past, only song composers and singers were given royalties collected on their behalf by the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK). The proposed amendments will now provide the producers and performers with a legal backing to engage their respective management organisations to collect royalties on their behalf. The royalties will be collected by the Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) and the performers’ society.
The proposals have it that all participating artists will get equal remuneration from the royalties. Musicians used to be given a flat annual royalty of Ksh. 10, 000 from broadcasters. This was based on a manual log fed whenever the musicians song played. With the introduction of the electronic log however, there is fear that upcoming artists will lose out as the royalties are paid based on the number of times the song plays. The electronic log picks the song automatically when it plays and in effect determine the amount payable at the end of the year, scrapping the flat rate payment.
A blogger recently revealed that musicians and other performing artists have finally started living off their works. Popular artists like Julianni, Pop group Camp Mula, Eric Wainaina, Jaguar and others get sustainable money from staging shows. Revenue from sale of records however is still crippling although musicians in the country are also reaping well from sale of iTunes.