President William Ruto has urged the Kenya Copyright Board and music industry players to establish a transparent royalty collection system that correctly pays artists what they are owed.
Speaking during the 61st Jamhuri celebrations, the President said that creatives who were the heartbeat of Kenya’s culture had been overlooked and undermined.
The President and his Kenya Kwanza government have made the creative sector a key pillar in their strategy to boost the country’s economy.
“I salute the actors in our creative space whose work brings life to our cities, our streets and screens, yet their achievements are overshadowed by injustice,” President Ruto said.
Referring to grievances raised over the years by several musicians, the president called for the injustice to stop.
“Musicians who are the heartbeat and soul of our culture have long been denied their rightful earnings.
“It is unacceptable that an artist earns as little as Ksh. 10,000 a year while those tasked with collecting their royalties pocket millions monthly. This injustice must end.”
The figure the President referenced in his speech may have likely come from multiple musicians who have severally decried the Music Copyright Society of Kenya’s (MCSK) low royalty payment.
In 2023, KBC Digital reported that Sauti Sol threatened to withdraw their membership from MCSK alleging that the society did not serve their interests.
“We are going to withdraw our membership from MCSK as it does not serve our best interests entirely. All disgruntled members who wish to do the same, the time is now,” said the boy band.
The group released the statement after receiving their royalties from MCSK in April 2023.
At the time, Bien, one of the band’s members had taken to his personal social media page to call out the organisation for only paying him KSh. 14,000 in royalties. Bien is the top most-streamed artist in Kenya according to Spotify data which make such low royalty payments surprising.
Sauti Sol is not the only group of artists to have raised their grievances with MCSK.
In 2020, award-winning rapper Khaligraph Jones went about his criticism in a different way – by releasing a diss track directed at MCSK featuring several Kenyan celebrities including Naiboi, Nameless, Sauti Sol’s manager Marek Fuchs, Willis Raburu, Betty Kyallo, Savara and Bien from Sauti Sol, Chris Kaiga, Fena, Otile Brown, King Kaka, Jones’ manager Franko, Tanasha Donna and Nyashinski.
With lyrics such as “MCSK wanahitaji mateke…Wasanii ndio mmeamua mtese, Kwendaa. Pesa zetu mlete…kwanza mtujenge…” the song calls out the organisation for not paying its artistes.
An audit released in September of that year further corroborated Jones’ claims citing “diversion of royalties, poor corporate governance structures, suspected fraudulent transactions, poor record-keeping and the existence of ghost or duplicate members” as one of the ways money was stolen from the society.
It is these grievances that the President referenced in his speech today and urged the Kenya Copyright Board and other industry players to employ transparency in royalty collection.
“The Kenya Copyright Board in conjunction with industry players and e-citizen must establish a transparent real-time system for royalty collection and distribution to rightful owners and beneficiaries,” he said.
