Yarona FM commits to royalties payment
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Sunday August 27, 2023 06:00
Station Manager, Owen Rampha told Arts & Culture that the organisation has always paid its dues and currently does not owe COSBOTS any royalties. Speaking to Arts & Culture on the sidelines of the YAMAS nominees launch on Tuesday, Rampha said the radio station has been consistently paying ever since it received its first royalty licence.
“We are committed as a radio station to paying royalties. We receive our royalties bill every single financial year and we ensure that we pay accordingly. As it is, we currently owe them nothing. When COSBOTS started operating, I can confirm to you that Yarona FM was the first Radio station to sign the COSBOTS licence fee contract,” Rampha said.
He also said that action shows their commitment to paying royalties and positively impacting the growth of the local music industry. For many years, local artists and COSBOTS have engaged in a brawl as the former cried foul that they are not receiving royalties from COSBOTS, or if they finally did, it was just peanuts. On the other hand, COSBOTS, which is mandated to protect artists from exploitation by collecting royalties on behalf of artists from a variety of copyrighted content users, accused broadcasters of not paying royalties and giving low airplay to local music. In 2020, the urban youth broadcaster made a bold decision when it increased its local music airplay to 50%.
At the time, the station’s programmes manager, Tshepang ‘DJ Izzy’ Motsitsi told MmegiOnline that the decision came about following complaints from artists. “Most radio stations gave international content first priority over local content.
So local artists complained about this and their complaints were heard,” Motsitsi said. He stated that this would go a long way in contributing to the growth of local artists as well as exposing them internationally. Motsitsi also said with the local music airplay now at par with international music, local artists would get better royalties in the process.
This week, Rampha said their quota is currently 60% in favour of local music. “We are currently sitting at 60% local music versus 40% regional and international and we want to keep it that way,” he said.