R56m bonus for SA composers
19 December 2008
South African music writers will be unwrapping an early Christmas present this month, in the form of a R56.8-million non-royalty revenue distribution from the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro).
The annual payout is over and above the performing rights royalties that Samro members receive, and represents income from interest earned on cash held while awaiting distribution.
Samro deposits the licensing revenue it receives from music users in interest-bearing financial instruments such as fixed deposits, to ensure that there is no financial risk to members until distributions are declared, explains Chief Operating Officer Gregory Zoghby. The return on these investments is paid out once a year as non-royalty revenue.
This year's impressive payout "is thanks to Samro making prudent decisions and heeding the advice of leading investment bankers," Zoghby said in a statement this week.
The payout of non-royalty earnings to members is the cherry on top of a good year for Samro, during which the organisation effectively became a one-stop service for performers and composers to collect royalties due to them from the performance of their works and recordings.
Recently, Samro announced that it would begin administering needletime rights, paying out royalties to music performers of works that have been broadcast or played in public.
Samro now also collects royalties for its mechanical rights members, who are paid for the reproduction of their works on CDs by broadcasters, ringtones, downloads over the internet, and so on.
These new revenue streams for artists are in addition to the existing performing rights royalties that Samro collects and pays out to authors, composers and publishers of music.
At Samro's annual general meeting in November, it was announced that the Samro Group had posted record gross revenue in excess of R350-million for the past financial year, and that R250-million would be distributed among its members.
With a total membership in excess of 16 000, of which close to 7 000 are composers whose music is actively used commercially and have assigned their rights to Samro, the organisation is a significant contributor to South Africa's music economy.
SAinfo reporter
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