By yzf2012
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been playing the music of local authors and composers, which has not received their royalty fees. This has gone as far as the company as of September 30th, owed over R160 million, which converts to 10 872 042USD. That is a lot of money which has not been payed to the local musicians, which makes it hard for them to keep on developing their craft and make a living of their talent.
On a happier note, SABC has now established a payment plan where the local artists will gradually receive funds which is owed to them by the broadcasting corporation. The local artist with the artist name The Kiffness has been a very vocal proponent of the struggles of not being paid by SABC. He has stated that he is “done with the SABC” because of the problems concerning the payment which is owed to him. He claims that their newly founded payment plan is a step in the right direction, but he down not believe it until he sees the money in his bank account.
SABC has taken their first step towards their payment plan by paying 35% of their outstanding debt to the Southern African Music Rights Organization (SAMRO). This is the organization whom is responsible for collecting the royalty fees, as well as distributing it to the 19 000+ local artists who are members of the organization. These artists rely on these royalties to sustain their income and family, therefore it is good to see that they finally can get some of the money which they have expected as a part of their paycheck. The payment plan is an agreement between SABC and SAMRO, and it is expected that the outstanding debt will be settled in full by April 2020.
Ms. Vuyo Mthembu who is the spokesperson for SABC has come out and confirmed that they have paid a substantial amount of the debt that is owed to the organization. She wants to clear the concerns about local artists who cannot rely on their royalty fees and says that they will stay committed to make a meaningful contribution to the entire arts industry in the country.
For me this is a really sad, but also very good news. The fact that the local artists has been working so hard and has not been payed the full royalties that they worked for, makes me feel sad for the entire arts industry in South Africa. It makes me glad to see that one of the biggest broadcasting corporations is now taking a step in the right direction and starting their way to bring justice to the industry and the artists. It should be easier for local artists to make a living out of their craft and get the feedback and opportunities to keep growing as an artist. It gives me hope for the arts industry in Africa when they get to figure out situations like these.
Source:
Making sense of art and design industries 