COSBOTS blames artists’ frustration on lack of education
Mompati Tlhankane | Sunday September 5, 2021 06:05
This comes after recent outcries in the creative industry over a leaked document that revealed the amount of money some members and employees of COSBOTS earn. BOMU recently released a statement expressing concern over the failure of COSBOTS to give it an ear concerning the royalties issue.
In a letter written to BOMU secretary general Winfred Rasina, COSBOSTS documentation and distribution manager Onalenna Gaontebale indicated that their experience has shown that there is lack of understanding on the part of artists about the entire distribution process. While Rasina has said the cancellation of the scheduled meeting with COSBOTS through an email is a further refusal of the organisation to account for the millions of money it collects as royalties on behalf of members, Gaontebale said the reason they requested to defer the meeting to a later date was to bring refined information at hand.
“This lack of clarity has led to considerable contestation between copyright owners and COSBOTS leadership.
The above, notwithstanding, there is still a lot COSBOTS needs to do to educate its members on how the proceeds of royalty collection are divided amongst right holders for the usage of their works. For this, we are constantly putting up educative information on our social media platforms, especially addressing the FAQs,” added Gaontebale.
Gaontebale further said as COSBOTS they will continue to impress upon all parties concerned, BOMU inclusive, to continue to hold discussions in public discourse until there is a meeting of minds and a common understanding of issues by all the parties that are involved in the discipline of copyright and business of royalty collection and distribution.
COSBOSTS also took the opportunity to rebut the statement released by BOMU recently, noting that they are disappointed by the false statements and accusations from Rasina. He had said in a statement that the unscrupulous tendencies practiced by a select few at COSBOTS through fat board allowances and extremely ballooned staff salaries among others is done so with absolute and painful disregard to creatives.
Further, he had said the monies collected as royalties do not reach members and rather end up in the pockets of a select few.
“Rasina, being the purported author of the defamatory content in question, has made very slanderous or insulting statements about COSBOTS, which inter alia include accusations of maladministration and embezzlement of funds. We note with grave concern the false published statement that serves no purpose than to tarnish the reputation of COSBOTS and the good name of the directors, management and staff of the organisation,” read a statement from COSBOTS. The latter also disclosed that it had offered financial intervention to BOMU amounting to P20,000.
Board members and CEOs have come and gone but the issue of royalties is still a burning one. COSBOTS maintains that distributions go through thorough and rigorous checks and balances.
But the delay of distributions and members earning as little as P1 fuels the frustration in an industry which has been shut since last year April. A recent leaked document showed that board members and some employees at COSBOTS earn between P15,000 and P84,000 per month. COSBOTS has in the past indicated that part of the money collected from royalties is used for administrative costs.
The recent leaked document from COSBOTS also revealed that in the past financial year, COSBOTS spend P88,800 on hotel and conferences hired for board meetings. In total, COSBOTS has spent P600,000 on board members. COSBOSTS stated that the directors’ remuneration is determined by a special resolution at an Annual General Meeting.
“Directors’ remuneration is not directly related to the organisation’s performance. The staff remuneration policy rewards high performance and aims to attract talented employees. The company offers a cost to company remuneration package and depends on specific individual’s employment arrangements,” highlighted COSBOTS. COSBOSTS is mandated by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act - CAP6802 of 2006 to among others licence and collect royalties from users of copyright protected works, to distribute them to copyright owners. COSBOTS’s perception is that most performers lack education but BOMU continues to demand the organisation’s executives to account for their hard earned money. Critics have said negligent and even fraudulent accounting practices by the organisation continue to deny Batswana artists and their families opportunities to accumulate wealth through their intellectual properties.