More money for musos
2009-11-12 14:41
Cape Town - Musicians in South Africa stand to earn more money from their music as Needle Time rights become accessible, Performers' Organisation of South Africa (Posa) General Manager Pfanani Lishivha said.
Needle Time rights relate to the rights of performers of music for their contribution to tracks.
"It will generate a second income stream for composer/performers and it's a benefit for performers," Lishivha told News24 at a workshop organised by the Cape Music Industry Commission (Cape MIC).
"Under the previous royalty structure, Samro (South African Music Rights Organisation) paid royalties for composers and publishers, but with Needle Time, there is an additional benefit for performers," he added.
The introduction of Needle Time has met with some controversy as certain stake holders in the music industry have resisted the implementation, but the rationale was to "reward performers of music" Lishivha said.
He cited examples of performers of popular music that died in poverty and said the application of Needle Time would not impact on the existing intellectual property rights relating to music. According to Posa, a song has two components: The music and the performance.
Objections
But radio stations have objected to the implementation of Needle Time, saying it could ruin some stations.
"We're not against it (Needle Time) and it's a good thing," Yfm Manager of Strategy and Development Stephan Potgeiter told News24. "But we have major concerns in the way regulatory bodies go about handling the payment of royalties."
"We object to the figure I have here of 1.61% of gross revenue - that's about R2m for us - and it's a big number," he added.
Lishivha said that radio stations would pay more for playing music with the implementation of Needle Time, but that community radio stations would be exempt from paying Needle Time, as would in-house retail radio stations as they fell outside the Icasa regulations.
The implementation of Needle Time was well-received by musicians gathered at the Cape MIC workshop, with SA legend Mynie Grove saying: "I think it's a brilliant idea."