Copyright board moves to protect artistes

The Kenya Copyright Board (Kecobo) has licensed three collective management organisations (CMOs) in its bid to protect artistes from exploitation.

The three CMOs are the Kenya Association of Music Producers, the Performers Rights Society of Kenya and the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK).

In a statement sent out yesterday, Kecobo said the three will be issued with six-month provisional licences after forensic audits on their operations.

The move comes on the heels of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s introduction of a centralised system for the collection of artistes’ royalties in January. Last year, musicians received Sh2,500 from MCSK as 2018 royalties.

The three CMOs will be required to use a government-approved ICT system to collect, distribute and manage royalties.

Further, the money is to be deposited in a Kecobo-controlled account “where 70 per cent of the total collections shall be retained and disbursed to beneficiaries as royalties and 30 per cent sent to the CMOs as recurrent costs,” the board said.