Through its CEO, Ezekiel Mutua, the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) has disclosed that Kenyan artists will get at least Ksh. 1,250 in royalties for 2023 on Thursday of next week.
In a press conference on Sunday evening, Dr. Mutua announced that Ksh. Twenty million would be distributed equally among the 16,000 members of the music organization.
Mutua disclosed that the funds were supposed to be distributed by Jamhuri Day on December 12 last year. However, following discussions with the ministry responsible, the funds will now be accessible on January 25.
"We were supposed to do this on Jamhuri Day but we had other engagements. The cabinet secretary told us to have structures and on January 25, we will disburse millions of shillings," he said.
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Additionally, he stated that while they wait for additional payments from other platforms like Google, the Ksh. Twenty million will be the first batch to be disbursed.
He stated that the funds will be allocated in two ways: generally and scientifically.
"General way is where so long as you are a member, we give general rates so that every musician receives something. Then we have a scientific way where we have software that shows where your music was played."
But neither Kenyans nor artists were impressed by the news, with many criticizing the pitiful sums to be distributed and characterizing them as insignificant and useless for any respectable artist.
"So Ksh.1,250 per musician? As in, one thousand two hundred and fifty bob? That's the money the government is planning to give to someone who has spent hundreds of thousands of shillings shooting music videos, recording music, paying for logistics, paying for management and video vixens, etc, etc. After all that hassle, we now need to pay him less than 10 dollars for their efforts! This is preposterous!" one X user said.
Another user, @georgeodhiambo, said," "Just shut up, man! You should be ashamed of going on NATIONAL TELEVISION to boast of such embarrassing figures. That's merely Ksh. 1250 per head! What am I supposed to do with such an amount? Buy KPLC tokens? Or just buy a fancy rope and kill myself!?"
Genge pioneer Hubert Nakirare, known as Nonini, also said, "Sad sana... Poleni wasanii wenzangu."
Economist Reuben Wambui, for his part, reasoned that most things in life follow the Pareto 80/20 principle. If the top 20% of artists—Sauti Sol, for example—receive 80% of the royalties, 3.2k people would share 16 million. The remaining KES 312 (4m divided 12.8k) is 5K on average. Something is wrong if the best still only receives $5,000 after using the 80/20 formula."
