Young artistes receive financial training from music society

Debby Asila (left) and Angela Ndambuki of the famed Tatu Singing Group during a youth forum at Kiboko Hotel, Limuru Sub-County, Kiambu on Friday October 11, 2013. Debby is the Marketing Manager of the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) while Angela works with Performance Rights Society of Kenya (PRiSK). The forum aimed at enlightening the youthful artistes and musicians on ways of protecting their creative works and making money from them. PHOTO|ANNE MACHARIA

By  ANNE MACHARIA

What you need to know:

  • About 150 young people from Kikuyu, Limuru and Kabete sub-counties gathered at the Kiboko Hotel in Limuru for the training.
  • The youth forum was organised by TalentPlus, a youth empowerment group from Limuru Sub-county.
  • Some of the artistes present complained of delays in the registration process at the MCSK.
  • Officers from Rafiki DTM advised the artistes on the importance of financial empowerment.

The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) on Friday conducted financial training for young musicians from three sub-counties in Kiambu County on how to benefit from their creative works

About 150 young people from Kikuyu, Limuru and Kabete sub-counties gathered at the Kiboko Hotel in Limuru for the training.

MCSK Marketing Director Debby Asila spoke to the youth on the importance of registering with the society in order to benefit from earnings generated by use of their creative works.

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“You can earn money from your music even 50 years after you produce it," she said.

Take seriously your work, produce songs that stand the test of time and work at making your song ‘big’.

This way you can make more money through royalties,” she added.

Also present at the function were Rafiki Deposit Taking Micro-finance - a subsidiary of Chase Bank Kenya, Kenya Film and Classification Board, Performance Rights Society of Kenya (PRiSK) and Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP).

The youth forum was organised by TalentPlus, a youth empowerment group from Limuru Sub-county.

INFORMATION GAP

TalentPlus founder Grace Mungai said she decided to organise the forum since she realised there was an information gap among musicians and other artistes on how to protect their creative works and make money from them.

Ms Asila assured the young artistes that MCSK was always monitoring radio stations to see how many times and for how long they played a particular song.

This she said, was a way of ensuring that artists received their royalties for the works they created.

Some of the artistes present complained of delays in the registration process at the MCSK.

However, Ms Asila assured them that royalties would be paid for their works from the day one applied for registration.

“For Skiza tunes, Skiza pays MCSK and the society makes sure the money gets into the particular musician's account as long as one has registered with the society,” said Ms Asila.

Judy Gachui of Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) also spoke to the young artistes and musicians on ownership of the sound, beats and tracks needed in the making of a full production.

Officers from Rafiki DTM advised the artistes on the importance of getting financial empowerment through using the bank's facilities.

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