‘Slow registration delays royalties process’

MANZINI – The Eswatini Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Society (ESWACOS) says artists should be swift in registering with them to accelerate the royalties process. 

This was revealed by ESWACOS Executive Director Mmeli Hlanze during a workshop hosted at The George Hotel in Manzini on Saturday. According to Hlanze, registration with ESWACOS is slow because some artists are not taking it upon themselves to register. 

“When we engage the users of artists’ music, they ask us if the artists have registered. Because the registration is slow among the artists, it then gives us a challenge to progress as swiftly as we had planned. The stakeholders (artists) are missing and the users always ask if artists have registered before they would want to pay,” Hlanze said. 

Hlanze made these remarks while responding to a question from the floor, which sought to ascertain what progress has been made so far in the royalties process. After revealing that registration remains low, he further encouraged artists to come and register and also urged those who have registered with other collective management organisations (CMOs) from outside the country to come back and register at home. 

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