Kwaito legend Eugene Mthethwa and parliamentarian Ringo Madlingozi have chained themselves to a pole inside the South African Music Rights Association (SAMRO) offices in Braamfontein, demanding that the organisation pay Mthethwa his royalties dating back to 1998. Mthethwa arrived at the SAMRO building at about 1 pm on the Thursday 19thFebruary and took the fight for artists’royalties to the music body.
In a conversation with Skhumba, Madlingozi spoke about how SAMRO is cheating artists of their royalties.
“…What they do is, you would register a song, then all of a sudden your song is undocumented, which means the money doesn’t come to you but goes to somebody else, that is robbery…” says Madlingozi
Listen to full conversation here:
In an open letter written on the 20thof January, Mthethwa called on SAMRO members to act against alleged corrupt activities concerning the CMO.
“I am writing this open letter out of desperation, having made every effort to raise the matter directly with SAMRO’s management and board, government authorities (CIPC), and SABC – being the largest user of local content. All in vain. I am therefore addressing my appeal to all SAMRO members, the majority of whom are products of Bantu Education, and come from previously disadvantaged communities. Such members, as a group, have been receiving the mushroom treatment about how SAMRO administers their rights for far too long.
The reason why I am now raising SAMRO’s shortcomings is that, the latest introduction of their portal, it has exposed the gravity of what we were never allowed to know about a divisive system that leads to songs/works being reclassified as undocumented works/new status – with no notification to the actual owner about the reclassification,”he wrote.
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