Music industry roundtable discussion

A music industry roundtable discussion was held on February 12 in Carletonville at Suits Guest House.

The host Malume Mdoko welcomes the guests at the roundtable discussion

The South African Music Performance Rights Association (SAMPRA) was present to engage with Merafong Pub owners, promoters, managers, marketers, DJs and artists to encourage them to become part of SAMPRA.

The Chairperson of SAMPRA, Pfanani Lishivha, personally addressed the audience and explained that SAMPRA is a collecting society for performance rights, labouring rights/ needle time rights, which is a remuneration right for public performance.

“Music adds value to businesses. Selling refreshments and paying SAMPRA per annum allocates fees to music companies and artists.”

The organisation saw the need to infiltrate townships and small villages to offer services such as SAMPRA Development Funds to aid live events. With the aim to uplift township economies, the collaboration between SAMPRA and venue owners is expected to encourage a partnership that benefits all parties. SAMPRA will continue to conduct inspections of local venues in order to ensure that they are paying for their licenses.

Lishivha also emphasised that DJs are supposed to be SAMPRA compliant; the event organisers are responsible for payments and there is no membership fees for artists to register.

SAMPRA has been engaging in touring since last year as they are spreading the information across townships.

The event organiser Malume Mdoko mentioned that he was motivated to hold the event by the fact that there is a lack of knowledge among local entertainers.
“People here have a passion for music so the only way to make it work is to have a discussion involving all music industry players.”

One of the attendees mentioned that it was an informative initiative for locals.

“It was a slice of heaven and I would like this to continue and engage further regarding other issues such as running our businesses as well as marketing,” expressed Obakeng Ndlovu.

By Kagiso Segone and originally appeared in the Cartenville/Fochville Herald