Ezekiel Mutua, the CEO of The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), has said that KSh 20 million will be disbursed to 16,000 members of the music body.
Speaking on Sunday, January 14, the MCSK boss highlighted that the disbursement of the cash was supposed to be done last year on 12th December but that never happened.
He said after making a concurrence with the ministry in charge, the money will be paid out on January 25, 2024.
“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,” MCSK CEO noted.
MCSK CEO Ezekiel Mutua says the society will release Sh20 million to 16,000 musicians on January 25 pic.twitter.com/BMiPJfqNCb
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) January 15, 2024
MCSK extra funding from Google and Mudundo
Mutua also affirmed that the body is also expecting cash from Google and other platforms like Mdundo, pointing out that the payments will be done through scientific and general methods.
“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,” Mutua said.
While continuing, he said the main objective of the move is to ensure Kenyan musicians live a better life and their dignity is not tarnished. He also called upon musicians to work on their song lyrics so that an outpouring of good messages would come out.
Mutua said artists should not engage in dirty lyrics, saying the government will come up with some measures protecting musicians so that if somebody takes their libretto then the penalty applies.
Is singing a well-paying job in Kenya?
He said that the rollout will put Kenyan artists in the same bar as their counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States of America in terms of financial status, saying singing is also a job like any other.
In quick arithmetic, with the distribution of KSh 20 million to 16,000 musicians, this will see every artist pocketing Ksh 1,250, something which has now brought a serious debate on social media platforms with many terming it valueless.
“So Ksh 1,250 per musician? As in, one thousand two hundred and fifty? That is the money the government is planning to give to someone who spent hundreds of thousands of shillings shooting music videos, recording music, paying for logistics, paying for management and video vixens, etc. After all that hassle, they now need to pay him less than 10 dollars for their efforts! This is preposterous !’ X user stated.
Discussion about this post