Artists set to receive financial relief from SAMRO
Almost 10 000 members benefited from a recent TV distribution of R63 million which was completed on March 30.
The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO)has proactively gone out with other institutions to exercise some leniency towards musicians in relation to their financial obligations.
“We are very pleased to note that the response by various stakeholders to that call has been extremely positive with nearly all the big five banks announcing some form of relief to their customers,” said Mark Rosin, Chief Executuve Officer of SAMRO.
“The current state of the economy, exacerbated by the restrictions on movement of people in an attempt to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus, affected our members most severely and we are delighted that we have been in a position to lighten the burden somewhat.
Almost 10 000 members benefited from a recent TV distribution of R63 million which we completed on March 30.
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“A month prior to that, we also paid out royalties from the Radio category to the tune of R141 million, making this the highest radio distribution in the past five years. The ongoing achievement of higher royalty collection and distributions is the result of the efficiency measures we recently put in place,” added Rosin.
He said that times are uncertain and challenging, but the organization will continue to look to act in the best interests of members.
“We are working on a host of other member benefits that we offer, over and above our primary role as copyright administrators. For instance, we are the only CMO that has a funeral policy fund for our members and we have just increased the funeral benefit from R20 000 per member to R25 000.00.
“We are working hard to collect more on behalf of our members and will do our utmost to ensure that the Coronavirus pandemic does not derail us from achieving our aims and initiatives,” concluded Rosin.
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