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Kenya Copyright Board (Kecobo) aims to raise Sh1 billion in royalties from the music industry in one year. Board chairman Joshua Kutuny says it is implementing a raft of changes in operations and regulations which will help boost the collections.

Speaking in Murang’a during a meeting with local artistes, Kutuny said Kecobo will first merge the three common market organisers (CMOs) into one so as to streamline the operations.

He noted that the Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP), Music CopyRight Society of Kenya (MCSK) and Performers Right Society of Kenya (PRISCK) have been using a common module in collecting royalties but a huge chunk of it goes to the operations.

“These three entities have been operating differently despite serving a common client and thus the need to merge them” he stated.

Kutuny said that lack of proper regulations in the sector has seen the money collected reduce drastically over the past three years and very little is trickling down to the artists. The chairman pointed out that the annual collection has dipped from Sh650 million in 2019 to Sh150 million in 2022.

Further, he said the board is rooting for a digital platform where all the music consumption and the royalties collected can be monitored. This, Kutuny said will do away with the manual collection of the money which he said has been a major challenge as it ends up in the pocket of few people. The system will also go away with the intermediaries who also take a huge chunk of the money.

“We want to create a system whereby the royalties will be channeled directly to the artist and they will be taking home a bigger percentage” he remarked. Kutuny noted that the majority of artistes are living in abject poverty despite producing songs which can earn them a living.
He, however, urged the artists to produce quality songs which will last longer in the market, pointing the ones produced nowadays only hit for a few months.