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Emtee, a rapper, said that he was shocked when the Southern African Music Rights Organisation gave him only R200 in royalties (SAMRO). Fans made fun of him because they thought he should have given a bigger amount.
Emtee told the world on Twitter that SAMRO had given him R200. “Ao, samro bang’rometse 2 klipa,” tweeted Emtee in disbelief.
SAMRO just said that they have started using a digital platform that makes it easier for artists to get their royalties.
IOL says that rapper Nadia Nakai is happy with how easy it is to get her royalties. She said that the company even went after her to update her banking information so that the money could be sent to her.
“I had a really good experience, as a matter of fact, they chased me to ensure that my banking details were updated so I could receive my payout,” said Nadia in a statement.
The process, according to SAMRO’s chief operations officer Mpho Mofikoe, has already paid out R15 million to its beneficiaries.
“We are happy to announce that this new system will streamline the payout process which means that once members have successfully updated their banking details on the platform, their royalties will be efficiently transferred.”
Last year, they announced that they would be paying out beneficiaries their royalties from various social media platforms.
SAMRO chairperson Nicholas Maweni said “SAMRO is pleased to announce that we have entered into licensing agreements with short-form video content social media platform TikTok, global social media powerhouse Facebook, as well as the video, streaming subscription platform Netflix, that will benefit members.
“Thanks to the conclusion of these binding agreements, Samro will be able to collect royalties on behalf of members, for all copyright-protected content that features on these platforms, with immediate effect. This deal is going to enrich these platforms through the use of high-quality content produced by our members while at the same time broadening the scope and usage of member content…It is absolutely essential that as SAMRO we license all music users and ensure that we deliver maximum value to our members.”
TikTok which is also a popular social media page came into agreement with SAMRO to pay artists royalties every time their music is played on the platform. Capasso Wiseman Ngubo said, “We are happy to have reached an agreement with TikTok in order to ensure that pan African songwriters are taken care of on the platform. With the increasing spotlight on African music, more African songwriters are poised to reach global superstar status and TikTok will play a major role in showcasing their talents to the world,” said Wiseman.
He said royalties will be calculated on a pro-rata share basis: “Streaming royalty calculations are not based on a fixed rate per stream, rather they are based on what is termed a pro-rata share of the available pool. This means, in essence, royalties are determined by one’s market share, as determined by usage, in each period.”