NO MORE FREE MUSIC FOR RADIO, TV - ARTISTS

MBABANE – “We won’t be submitting music and videos on national TV and radio platforms for free!”

The above statement best describes  the general consensus among artists concerning their content being aired for free all in the name of exposure. Social media was abuzz in the past few  days as more and more local artists have declared to stop submitting their music let alone music videos to local television stations and on national radio. The general feeling among the artists was that it was unfair and unjustified for local media (radio and TV) to use their content for free when they had to incur the costs of recording music or making music videos as means to promote their craft. Artist manager and G-Stars Entertainment and Projects Director Gino Kash, narrated that although there was a demand from the public for his artist Skinny G’s SODV music video to be dropped, he said he did not see the need for his team to submit the video on national TV because this did not bear any fruits in the end.

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“It’s sad that no performance royalties are paid to get your music content rotating on local platforms. The same reason we haven’t submitted to the station and never will until the Copyright Act is fully operational to benefit local content that is play-listed,” he said. He said the personnel that played their music for free were paid at the end of the month yet their artists were not benefitting which was unfair when they incur all the costs related to studio time and making the videos, let alone their livelihood.

Afro Pop sensation Popzin’s manager corroborated Gino’s statement by saying he did not know why the Copyright Act was not fully functional when it had already been passed. “I don’t know why the Act which was passed in Parliament is  not put into action. As ‘arts’ people, we make a living out of the content we make which is business for us. So if the country’s authorities do not recognise this, how are we going to survive as an industry?” he rhetorically asked. He went on to add that in South Africa, artists who are registered with Southern African Music Rights Association (SAMRO) were making money off their content played on national radio through royalties and said his artists also earned royalties in SA and not locally.

“In the country, we feel as if artists are really being manipulated as their music is being played for free yet there are adverts played during the shows. We do not want to get to a point where we are fervently lobbying for other artists not to submit their music to the radio stations but the little we can get can be much appreciated,” he said. Hip hop artist, Psycholution, who graduated in media studies at Boston College was also asked to weigh in on the matter and he said without undermining other artists on their views and opinions; not submitting music on national radio and TV was a long route home yet there was a shortcut at earning royalties.

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