The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) has received backlash after promising to release Ksh. 1250 to a total of 1600 musicians in Kenya as MCSK Royalties 2024.
Speaking to the press on Monday, Music Copyright Society of Kenya CEO Ezekiel Mutua said that the society is organising to release a total of Ksh. 20 Million shillings to a total of 16000 musicians registered with them on January 25th.
However, Kenyans were evidently agitated with this pronouncement saying that the board should be ashamed of that ammount. Calculations brought the ammount to Ksh. 1,250 bob. That is 20M ÷ 16,000 musicians.
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The MCSK royalties 2024 according to Mutua have been collected over a period of one year which will be disbursed on January 25th. According to Mutua, the function was supposed to happen on Jamhuri Day but the function was posponed to January.
This comes after several musicians complaining last year of the MCSK royalties they received with others claiming they got nothing from the society.
According to Ezekiel Mutua, these bonuses are the new tarrifs set by the government that have improved music rates in the country through signing contracts with broadcasters and various music streaming platforms that have seen an improvement money wise.
Kenyans have reacted Ezekiel’s press statement saying that the commission is doing nothing to help musicians grow but only eating from their sweat and giving them peanuts in the name of shared royalties.
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“When i took over as MCSK chairman, the music payment rate at google and google was at 1.7%. We have improved the rate to 16.5% which for the first time we are higher than the United States of America.”
The CEO went ahead and said that the royalties will be shared in two ways. One being the traditional way, which is the general distribution through flat rate. The other os through scientific way that is shared through popularity and streaming numbers.