Musicians hail DBS, Duma FM for refusing to pay
Spira Tlhankane | Thursday February 2, 2017 18:00
This comes after Copyright Society of Botswana (COSBOTS) blamed the two non-compliant content users for their failure to distribute royalties to musicians.
Speaking during the media brief, one of the concerned artists and member of COSBOTS Phempheretlhe Bafana Pheto said no content user in their right sense would want to pour money into a corrupt organisation. “The money doesn’t reach us after collection because it stops somewhere, users want accountability and COSBOTS is failing to provide that,” he said. He said only a handful of people at COSBOTS benefit from artists’ money while they continue to suffer.
In addition one of the artists Zeus said DBS and Duma FM have been paying royalties from the beginning but they are now refusing because they want to know where the money goes after collection. “Any user will be reluctant to pay if COSBOTS continues to abuse funds and maladministration,” he said. Zeus said musicians and promoters pay COSBOTS all the time but the money goes into a pit. “No user should be persecuted, in fact they should not pay now because COSBOTS has no transparency,” he said.
Another artist, Thabang Garogwe said there is no accountability and users will pay royalties once COSBOTS’s house is in order. “COSBOTS board is illegally constituted and they continue to run the company like its their own,” he said. “Money from users doesn’t reach us but our content is used. We wait for six months for peanuts while the board members get chunks of money as sitting allowance,” he said.
The artists’ representative Alfredo Mos said the board must leave office so that issues of royalties can be resolved with new board members who have a better vision. “We also believe that a thorough forensic audit should be conducted so that we can all see where our money goes,” he said.