KENYA: Artists Breathe Sigh of Relief as Skiza Royalties Drama Almost Over

Finally after a year without their Skiza Royalties, Kenyan artists can finally breathe a sigh of relief after it was revealed that the process of unfreezing the accounts is almost over.

Last year the court ordered telecommunications giant Safaricom to stop payments of royalties for the Skiza tunes until a case filed by a section of artists was resolved.

The Performers’ Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK) which recently sent out a communique to its artists revealed that the process that will ensure the frozen royalty payouts are handed over to the Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) is almost done.

“The biggest thing about the money coming through CMOs is accountability through documentation so it shall not be the case of just handing over the money,” PRISK chairman Robert “RKay” Kamanzi.

He adds: “We have asked rights holders to provide information about their songs in order to be able to serve them better and faster. With that said though, the money has not reached the CMOs yet.

There are also processes and we respect them. What we have is just information about how much is being released so we await for it as well as the data that comes with it. It’s been four years of fighting for this money and we are almost there and it’s just a start.”

We contacted RKay and asked him what the CMOs are planning to do in order to make sure that the royalties are not frozen again causing unrest among artists.

“Well there’s nothing we can do, all we can do as CMOs is ensure that we distribute the money to artists. However I would like to say (to the artists that filed the case in court) the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Picha Flani