The application of fishing quota by The Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (Nascam) from fisheries ministry was rejected but the team has lodged an appeal to be reconsidered and are still waiting for the response.
This was shared by Nascam’s CEO John Max, saying the aim for the application was for Nascam members to benefit from the national natural resources for the development of the music industry and maintain the Namibian cultural industry.
Nascam was one of the applicants that have submitted an application for fishing quotas in August 2018 to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
Max called for calm from the artists as Nascam is expected to be paid out a range of N$1.1 million received from the NBC Radio and TV for the music used during 2019 to its members.
“Nascam received royalties from CAPASSO, a sister Collective Management Organisation in South Africa, and these royalties will be paid in December 2020. These royalties were collected from digital platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Spotify and Itunes through online music platforms,” Max elaborated.
He said his office has been receiving several calls from members that would like to be assured that there will be royalty payments this year. “We, therefore, like to confirm that royalty payments will be done as has been an annual occurrence for many years now,” assured Max.
CAPASSO will send Nascam a complete schedule statement that will determine how much an artist will receive from his/her music that has been streamed on the online platforms.
Max informed the media that a total of N$300 000 is expected to be distributed amongst those artists who have their music streamed from those different online platform services.
“We urge our members to indicate to our office which of their music has been uploaded onto those digital music services to enable a smooth processing of identifying their musical works,” enlightened Max who was worried that local artists don’t inform the organisation when they are loading music on these sites.
Max said it seems musicians are more interested in getting fame than following procedures like informing Nascam about their music upload.
Member of the Executive Board of directors, Robert Shipanga said sometimes musicians have their songs played on radio and are famous but the situation on the ground is different because of not registering their work.
“Nascam doesn’t directly monitor radio airplay to see what’s happening, we rely on what the radios give us but if you are not registered here it becomes an issue,” stated Shipanga.
Since one can’t put a price to a song, Shipanga said in terms of determining the amount a musician will get is difficult. “You cannot put a value or price to a song because of a lot of factors,” he pressed.
-psiririka@nepc.com.na