‘Where is our money?’ Artists clash with Ezekiel Mutua over music royalties

The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ezekiel Mutua has been put on the spot by Kenyan artists over royalties.

During a live discussion on Citizen TV on Monday, Mutua clashed with artists including Nonini, Shizo, Rufftone, Stephen Kasolo, and Ziki among other artists over the disbursement of royalties.

Shizo, a contemporary artist from the Western Kenya region lamented how as a member of MCSK, he has not been paid money for his song ‘Rhoda’, which he claimed to be very popular and has been played on several media stations and has seen TikTok challenges.

“I have released a song called Rhoda. The song has been played in the media and has had TikTok challenges. Unfortunately, I have not received any money," stated Shizo.

Nonini, the Chairman of the Creatives Society of Kenya board stated that MCSK and other Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) don't follow directives of the government, and the regulator Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO).

He said that KECOBO has mandated these CMOs to remit 70 per cent of royalties collected to artists.

"KECOBO has mandated all CMOs; Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP), Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK), and MCSK that they are to remit 70% of the money collected," he said.

He added that he was shocked that there are artists who are reportedly earning Ksh.100,000 when they should be earning more money.

“It perturbs me that there are people who earn Ksh.100,000 when they should be earning more than that,” expressed Nonini.

"Many of the artists that I represent have not been paid and their music is being played,” he added.

Mutua bore the brunt of the artists' lamentations over the disbursement of money owed to artists and in defense said they had released a memo detailing the timeline for the disbursement of royalties for the previous year.

"We put a notice on 19th January on how royalties will be disbursed. The process began on the 25th of January and will run till 29th March," he said.

He confirmed that Shizo's song, ‘Rhoda’ has not been declared to MCSK hence he cannot earn any royalties from it.

Mutua said that MCSK does not pay royalties for TikTok or YouTube. He added that an artist has to declare their released work to collect royalties.

“When you register as a member of MCSK, you have to declare your works. Every time you do a song, you come and update. There is a form called the Work Declaration form,” he articulated. "We don't pay TikTok and YouTube, we pay works declared to us."

He added that for songs that have not been declared, they are recorded but for the artist to get their money it is claim-based. you have to come with a catalogue from the station and we confirm.

Some artists were lamenting that the royalties received from your work do not relate to the amount spent when creating their projects while other artists from the remote regions of the country like Kajiado, and Samburu have claimed that they do not understand much about MCSK.

On her part, Ziki said that the amount of money used in the production of music and video production does not correlate with royalties paid at the end of the day. hence no profit.

She accused KECOBO of letting artists down across the board.

“KECOBO has really let us down. I was once a whistle-blower that money was being stolen but nothing was done.”

In response, Sharon Wata, the KECOBO Assistant Executive Director, expressed her apologies to artists and said if they had offended any artists, she was sorry.

She however affirmed that KECOBO does not collect any royalties for artists, saying, "KECOBO has not collected anybody's money.”

Wata apologized to artists for the troubles faced.

Rufftone meanwhile thanked the Kenya Kwanza administration and President William Ruto who said the creative space should be looked at. He quoted the manifesto of the Kenya Kwanza that said talent should be turned into business.

He questioned why MCSK had not engaged artists from remote areas so that they could learn about the organizations and benefit from their art.

Ezekiel Mutua said that an artist cannot get into the craft and fail to know about the organizations in place, likening it to an athlete in the rural areas who fails to know about Athletics Kenya.

He, however, stated that there are plans to deploy a technology that will allow an artist to get real-time information on how much royalties they have earned to promote openness and cut down on costs.