First Lady Rachel Ruto meets pioneer musicians, outlines plans to revamp the sector

First Lady Mama Rachel Ruto on Tuesday held a consultative meeting with 36 pioneer Kenyan musicians at State House to understand the issues plaguing the sector and find ways to help establish the music industry as a stable economic pillar.

Mama Rachel Ruto outlined plans to organise four national music conferences and conduct 47 county music talent forums, over the next four years, through the Talent Expression directorate of MaMa Doing Good.

The First Lady congratulated the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) on the steps taken to make the music industry a significant contributor to the economy and address music legends' needs through the MCSK Foundation.

MCSK CEO Dr. Ezekiel Mutua commended the meeting with the Pioneer Gospel Musicians for recognising the men and women in Kenya's music industry who have laid the foundation for authentic music and continue to inspire hope and positive aspirations in the music industry and the country at large.

Under the Kenya Kwanza Government, MCSK has been granted an operating licence, and new tariffs have been gazetted.

MCSK is in the final stages of negotiating an increase in the commission earned by content developers from YouTube from 1.7% to 16.5%.

In addition, implementing the Blank Tape Levy by the Kenya Copyright Board is estimated to generate over Ksh.6 billion annually.

This levy is imposed on blank recording media. It is intended to compensate copyright owners for private, non-commercial copying of blank media such as DVDs, flash disks and memory cards.