SABC royalty payments SA musicians owed R25 million
SABC royalty payments of more than R25 million is owed to SA musicians. The broadcaster appears to be in the press for all the wrong reasons lately.
Previously, they endured the embarrassment of the flopped Thank You SABC concert. They went into the negative with that event and had to receive a bailout in order to pay the fees of the musicians who did show up to perform.
The lackluster attendance of the event was all over Twitter and the country had a good laugh pointing out the folly the SABC. They estimated that twenty thousand people would attend the special concert yet the event only managed to pull in around one thousand. Now in the news, the issue of SABC royalty payments to SA musicians which is said to be millions and they just aren’t paying.
Reportedly, the outstanding SABC royalty payments amount to R25.7 million for two years already.
Making it political
The Democratic Alliance (DA) took it upon themselves to contact the SABC about this outstanding money.
“According to the reply‚ two societies representing musicians‚ the South African Music Performance Rights Association, and the Independent Music Performance Rights Association have been owed this amount since 2014, by the SABC’s radio division‚” DA spokesperson on communications Phumzile Van Damme said.
Van Damme highlighted the fact that the SABC owes SA musicians money, goes against their claims to support local musicians. The DA has also vowed to follow up on this, not letting the SABC get off easy at all…
“His 90% local content policy has now been revealed to be nothing more than an attempt to gain the public support of SA’s musicians during his legal woes‚ as it is not backed by a real commitment to provide the financial backing in royalty payments. The DA will be following up this matter. We will submit further parliamentary questions to find out when the outstanding monies will be paid to our country’s musicians‚” Van Damme said.
