The issue of Kenyan musicians’ royalties is getting emotive day by day, with MCSK CEO Ezekiel Mutua in war of words on X (formerly Twitter) with State House Digital Strategist Dennis Itumbi.
It all started when Mutua faulted the Kenya Kwanza Government of its plans to have music royalties collected through the eCitizen platform.
According to Mutua, Kenya is a signatory of the Bern Convention and a member of UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation, which dictate against interference by the state on administration of copyright as a private property.
“The Government should support CMOs with enforcement and enact proper policies to protect Intellectual property. World over music business is run privately through CMOs because Government is not good at doing business. In fact, this Government has already announced its intention to privatise most of its parastatals to make them more profitable. It would therefore be a contradiction in terms to meddle in the running of private music businesses,” Mutua said.
However, Mutua’s comments did not sit well with Itumbi who insisted that the eCitizen directive will be implemented for the benefit of Kenyan musicians.
Itumbi said that although copyright is private property, Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) get licence from the government to collect royalties, and that license is subject to rules and regulations from the government.
Itumbi: ‘Prepare for eCitizen’
“Prepare for E-citizen, and yes you have a right to go to COURT, but musicians have the right to earn directly for their creative work… The digital platform will be a CMO. We will align that digital dream with the law. All focus on the artists!” Itumbi asserted.
In a rejoinder, Mutua slammed Itumbi, telling him that a license from the government to the CMOs is not a favour. “That doesn’t make the Government part of the administration. You are conflicted on this matter and you will end up embarrassing the President.”
Mutua added: “We have seen tyrants and powerful people who play God with their positions. Remember Mucheru was harassing me at KFCB because of supporting your boss. Now you are in power and you think that we are small people that you can talk down on, but there’s God in heaven.”
‘Prepare to go yo court’
A bullish Itumbi, however, said that the government is committed to solving the issue of monies collected on behalf of Kenyan artists not reaching them in full once and for all.
“If you are preparing for court as you have been threatening, instruct the lawyer to prepare in advance, my friend, because it will go E-Citizen so that musicians can be in control. They work so hard, with little recourses, they deserve to get the outcome of their sweat. We will sort out this issue. That I promise you.”
Itumbi insisted that eCitizen will ensure that avenues of misappropriating musicians’ monies when collecting and distributing royalties are sealed off.
The eCitizen, Itumbi says, will help the artists monitor their earnings on a real-time basis and earn their entire rightful reward for their creative works.
The bitter clash did not end there, with Mutua questioning the government’s commitment to helping Kenyan musicians. “Are you aware that CMO royalties in Kenya are probably the 5th in order of revenue sources for artists? What have you done with Skiza Tunes? What have you done with streaming services? How have you streamlined artists earnings from public performances and concerts?”
In his rebuttal, Itumbi accused MCSK of collecting millions of money from musicians’ royalties while paying the same musicians peanuts.
“…yaani, we are paying musicians peanuts as royalties and paying the collectors millions. and you find nothing wrong with that model? Musicians = PEANUTS/ Per Year . CMOS CEO = 1.3M Per month. Hii apana! Let us empower our artists, on that, like Paul in Scripture, My Eyes are firmly on the finishing line!”
