By Kaya 959 News
The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) is calling on identified members to resubmit their banking details to receive their share of R30m in pending royalties.
These royalty payments range from as little as R100 to R250 000.
SAMRO this week revealed that it has more than R30 million in pending royalties and has identified about 6 500 members who need to resubmit their banking details in order to receive payment.
According to SAMRO CEO Mark Rosin, the current situation resulted from the organisation having received incorrect or outdated banking details from members.
Rosin explained that SAMRO is making this public appeal for affected members to come forward as part of its efforts to be a fair and transparent organisation.
“While SAMRO has the money, it can’t pay it over at this stage, simply because the bank account details furnished by the affected members are outdated, or incorrect in one form or another.
“When payment is made, it bounces back and future payments will subsequently be stopped until the member details are corrected or updated,” Rosin said.
READ: Musicians chain themselves to SAMRO’s building
Over 6 000 members ask to resubmit
He said the members in question have been asked through a direct communication from SAMRO to update their banking details and the organisation has also published on its website and social media platforms a list of members whose banking details are incorrect.
Rosin said there are about 6 500 members who have been asked to resubmit their bank account details.
“We would like to emphasise that only the members who appear on the list, which has been published on SAMRO’s website, need to check their banking details and resubmit accurate details,” said Rosin.
He notes that the royalty amounts due to members from the R30 million will differ from member to member, depending on the usage of their creations.
READ: Pearl Thusi begs Minister Nathi Mthethwa to help struggling artists
SAMRO administers the copyright and royalties of its members, primarily music composers, authors and publishers. Members assign the rights of their musical works to SAMRO to administer.
The organisation, in turn, uses the assignments to license individuals and businesses that use music for business or commercial purposes. This includes shopping centres, nightclubs, television and radio broadcasters, among others.
“SAMRO always strives to protect the rights of its members and ensure that they are compensated fairly for their work. We are here to ensure that artists can earn a decent living and receive the royalties that are rightfully due to them,” he said.
“In addition, this is part of SAMRO’s ‘Notes for Notes’ campaign that has been designed to put more funds in the pockets of SAMRO members”.
Rosin added: “It is important to note that the money in question is for identified works, where the owner of the royalties is known to SAMRO, as opposed to the undocumented works, where the creator is unknown and such funds are then distributed through an established process”.
SAMRO said members who wish to check whether they are part of the group that needs to resubmit their banking details to SAMRO can view the list.
