Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) CEO Ezekiel Mutua came under attack when he announced the planned disbursement of royalties.
Mutua announced that MCSK will be disbursing a Ksh20 million payout to 16,000 Kenyan musicians on January 25, 2024.
The statement was interpreted to mean that all the musicians registered under MCSK would be paid a meager Ksh1,250 each.
Mutua came to clarify his announcement following criticisms on social media.
The MCSK boss stated that MCSK will not pay each musician Ksh1,250, explaining that some will earn much more based on the computation used to arrive at the royalties to be distributed.
“People are twisting this story to sound like the 20M will be shared equally among 16,000 MCSK members. Not so. We distribute using both scientific and general allocation. Scientific distribution refers to the actual airplay of members works within the period under review.
“However, there are members whose songs do not get airplay at all, but because they are our members the Board allocates some general amounts in line with our distribution rules. Last year we had someone getting 330k under scientific, while the least under general was Sh.650. Music is seasonal and royalties accrue from works that are active. If you did your song in the 70s and it’s not played on radio or in public places, you settle for the general token,” Ezekiel Mutua explained.
People are twisting this story to sound like the 20M will be shared equally among 16,000 MCSK members. Not so. We distribute using both scientific and general allocation. Scientific distribution refers to the actual airplay of members works within the period under review.… pic.twitter.com/Io2bAoAlCg
— Dr. Ezekiel Mutua, MBS (@EzekielMutua) January 15, 2024
