THE Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (Nascam) has been labelled as being toothless in the protection and promotion of artists’ copyrights, following its delayed distribution of N$1.8 million royalties for 2022.

Nascam collects royalties on behalf of its member artists under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994 to protect and promote copyrights and ensure fair numeration.

Speaking to Nampa on Wednesday, renowned musician Lazarus Shiimi, popularly known as Gazza, said in terms of copyright protection, Namibian artists have been on their own the longest because of Nascam’s failure to carry out its mandate.

“We have taken the matter into our hands...We are pushing, and we do it because it’s a passion for us. We have been investing in the industry even though we are being robbed every day. When your song plays every day in Pep store, Studio 88, or a club, we were supposed to be paid but we look at it knowing we are being robbed every day because there is no infrastructure in place to protect us,” he stressed.

Another musician, Angombe Fillemon, known by his stage name as Filly-zo NamWater, said Nascam is not serious about carrying out its mandate, noting that many artists are not receiving any royalties for their songs and those receiving them are paid peanuts.

“I think they are not serious with their work…I only got something from them four years ago, however, my songs are being played on the radio and all other platforms, all those years and (I get) nothing,” he said.

Echoing the same sentiments was seasoned musician, Venaune Ben Kandukira, known professionally as Big Ben, who said as a collective, Nascam has failed to protect artists because commercial broadcasters play their music without accountability or compensation.

“Nascam has been toothless for as long as I can remember in making broadcasters compensate artists for their work. We even have many private radio stations playing our songs without paying for them, the royalties collected now are mostly just from the national broadcaster,” he said.

Nascam CEO Albert Nicanor said Nascam has no internal policy that stipulates a specific time for royalties to be paid out, however, it has been customarily distributing the money in December each year.

“I am currently preparing a policy that will mark the way forward on how and when we pay the royalties… It is important that they will start to know exactly when to expect, the perception was always that royalties are due in December,” he said.

He further said Nascam is currently rectifying operations and engaging all those broadcasters infringing the Act. -Nampa