A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
NEW DRIVE TO TRACK DOWN UNDOCUMENTED WORKS
PHUMUZA “MOJAPOOH” ZINDELA IS THE KING OF KWA-ZULU NATAL
SAMRO SALUTES NKOSI DALIBHUNGA ROLIHLAHLA NELSON MANDELA
SAMRO TACKLES PIRACY THROUGH PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
SAMRO’S FESTIVE SEASON CLOSING DATES
MAMA DANCE! MUSIC SOLUTIONS’ CELEBRATES BUSY YEAR!

Licensed to Play December 2013

Dear SAMRO Music User

Another busy year has come to an end – we’d like to thank all our music users for their support during 2013. During the past year we’ve achieved a great deal, including launching the first-ever Wawela Music Awards to recognise composing and songwriting excellence, opening a new contact centre at Durban’s BAT Centre and, of course, welcoming our new CEO, Sipho Dlamini.

We’ve also worked hard to keep in step, and ahead, of trends in music usage. This is part of our commitment to facilitate the changing use of music, especially with the advent of the digital age. Over the year, alongside our traditional business, we’ve focused on narrowcasting, multiple purpose licensing (like online radio and television stations using multiple media platforms) and other new areas where music is being used. It’s exciting to see the new channels for music in South Africa and our partnership with you means that we are able to work together to create a healthy music business in South Africa.

Our valued licensees are an important part of the value chain, and we are moving into 2014 with renewed vigour and a determination to continue refining and expanding our interaction with music users.

Do you have any comments or suggestions? Would you like to be profiled in a future newsletter? Please contact us at online@samro.org.za – we look forward to your ideas for possible inclusion in Licensed to Play

We wish you a wonderful festive break.

Yours in music,

Tiyani Maluleke

General Manager: Marketing

A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Of course, since the evening of December 5th, we have all been filled with a sense of loss and sadness at the death of our former President, Nelson Mandela, turning the approaching holidays into a time of reflection and gratitude as well as celebration of an extraordinary life. It’s no secret that Madiba inspired music creators all over the world and we’re proud to be the home of many of those.

At this time of the year we’d also like to give thanks to all of you. Your role in ensuring the health of the South African music industry cannot be understated. It is with deep gratitude that I thank you all for playing your part in ensuring music creators are paid for their efforts in making the music that is so much part of all of our lives.

It’s been a privilege to take the reins at SAMRO. We have made some important strides in 2013 and I look forward to working together in the coming year.

Wishing you all a good festive season and a New Year that’s everything you hope it will be.

Yours in music,

Sipho Dlamini: CEO

NEW DRIVE TO TRACK DOWN UNDOCUMENTED WORKS

As a valued licensee, you pay licence fees to SAMRO. SAMRO in turns pays royalties to its members – but in order to do so, SAMRO needs members to notify their works so that there is a record of each work and its creator and/or rights holders, as well as their share splits in the ownership of the composition.

This then allows SAMRO to allocate the royalties correctly to the deserving composers and authors when it receives performance returns from music users like you.

Inevitably, there are instances where SAMRO receives performance returns listing works that have not been notified or registered with SAMRO. In other cases, the member’s contact details are outdated or missing, and sometimes the composer is not even a SAMRO member. This creates a situation where SAMRO finds itself in possession of royalties it is unable to distribute.

These “works in limbo” are called undocumented works. Royalties are allocated to the work, but the music creator in question cannot be paid until it is notified with SAMRO.

Instead of simply hoping that these composers come knocking on its door in search of their royalties, SAMRO is now proactively trying to trace those composers whose royalties the company has received but has been unable to distribute.

One of the first steps SAMRO has taken is to place advertisements in a number of newspapers, sensitising composers of the need to:

•register as SAMRO members;

•notify each and every work they release commercially; and

•ensure that SAMRO has their correct contact details.

According to Pfanani Lishivha, the Executive General Manager of Rights Holder Services at SAMRO, “There are composers whose musical works have been used, but haven’t been registered with SAMRO. We have not succeeded in getting hold of them either because their contact details have changed or were never supplied at the time of applying for membership. We want them to notify these works or direct us to the relevant composers so that they are paid what is due to them.”

Lishivha emphasises that this awareness campaign, which prioritises putting royalties into the hands of the rightful copyright owners, is in line with SAMRO’s new vision and focus to improve customer service and care. “The tracing of composers whose musical works have been used but have not been registered with us is an initiative we have identified to improve our service offering to our membership, and we are committed to ensuring its success,” he says.

As a music user, you can also play a role in highlighting SAMRO’s drive to trace the creators of undocumented works. This can be done at a conversational or more formal level, for instance publicly displaying or highlighting the UnDoc campaign information. Please contact us for more information should you be willing to help.

PHUMUZA “MOJAPOOH” ZINDELA IS THE KING OF KWA-ZULU NATAL

Make no mistake; Mojapooh is an underground artist with his sights set on making an impact on a much broader scale. Not that he’s going to forsake his underground status, but when the Izingolweni, South Coast raised artist was named King of Kwa-Zulu Natal at the South African Hip Hop Awards (SAHHA), it was confirmation of the genuine talent behind an array of acclaimed mixtapes.

And the SAHHA isn’t the only accolade that Phumuza “Mojapooh” Zindela has earned in 2013. He took home the Best Vernacular Hip Hop Award at the 8th South African Traditional Music Achievement Awards (SATMA) in October for his work with MC Tshatha on the album Indumezulu.

“A group that had started out as joke to some industry critics gave me a chance to work with the likes of Mtshengiseni Gcwensa, Thokozani Langa, iHashi Elimhlophe, Big Nuz, Maqhinga (Shabalala Rhythms) and many other amazing artists,” says Mojapooh.

Mojapooh’s music love affair began after 1995 when he relocated to Gamalakhe Township, also on the South Coast. “It was here that my love for music began after performing at Port Shepstone High’s talent contest,” he reveals. A few years later, he began studying at Durban University of Technology and got his “lucky” break when Lucky Sefatsa, an Ukhozi Fm DJ, started mentoring Mojapooh.

Before long he was attending shows at Durban’s BAT centre and recording jingles for Ukhozi FM and the Durban youth radio. In 2005, the ambitious musician started his company, Mojapooh Productions, and began recording underground artists like Shon Gee and Zulu Boy.

It hasn’t always been easy. After releasing the mix tape Isipetho in 2010, Mojapooh wanted to quit. “But then Khathide “Tshathugodo” Ngobe from Ukhozi fm started a hip-hop feature on his Friday night show that was aimed at uplifting upcoming hip hop artist and he asked me to assist,” he confides. “I have a love for Zulu culture and only rap in Zulu so it was a perfect combination with Tshathugodo who also does a Maskandi show on Ukhozi fm.”

Since then, Mojapooh has been in demand – and making a significant mark with acclaimed mixtape releases. “Shon Gee’s mix-tape Umagawula was the first mix-tape to break industry boundaries without being playlisted for any radio station. The music was heard on taxis, buses, in the townships and at house parties,” says Mojapooh.

Mojapooh is busier than ever, producing background music for Usuthu TV on Supersport 4, producing jingles for Ukhozi fm’s Vuka breakfast show, Vukamzansi, Jabulujule, and Clever-unga Give and co-hosting a hip-hop feature on Ukhozi fm every Friday. Also part of the hip-hop group DC Crew with Shon Gee, Sufi Dun, DJ Da Dee and Masta T, Mojapooh produced and performed an intro on lvovo’s album, The Heavy Weight, in 2009.

SAMRO SALUTES NKOSI DALIBHUNGA ROLIHLAHLA NELSON MANDELA

Sacrifice…forgiveness…reconciliation…honour…These are a few of many words that one cannot but mention when remembering the iconic and legendary man, affectionately known by his clan name Madiba. The words capture the essence of what this great son of South Africa fought for and will forever be remembered for the world over.

The words also lay at the heart of the choices that guided his life’s path. The choice to speak peace in the face of turmoil; the choice to see light when many of us saw only darkness; the choice to use the bricks before him as building blocks and not weapons, as one would assume may have been a natural instinct, deep within.

It is these choices we salute, for it is the choices a man makes that set him apart.

Hard choices are not foreign to SAMRO and are, in fact, deeply rooted in its 50 year history. Starting with founder Gideon Roos’ decision to defy the apartheid government’s laws by creating a music right’s organisation that afforded music creators equal opportunity and status. This fighting spirit continued to characterise SAMRO on its journey to become, today, one of the most respected and revered collective management organisations the world over.

The path that Nelson Mandela chose as a young man was a path that would test his conviction, his bravery and his principles; tests that he would ultimately conquer. This is not to say that cowardice, doubt or fear were not shadows he had to contend with. To the contrary. As a man like all men, he too surely had to face these and other shortcomings. However, as said in his own words, “…(t)he brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

SAMRO salutes your choices, your courage and, ultimately, your conquering spirit Madiba.

We salute the choice to dedicate your life to the principles of justice and equality when you took your first steps into student politics at the dawn of the 1940s.

We salute the painful decision to dedicate your life to the people and freedom of South Africa at the expense of watching your children grow, play and blossom.

We salute your steadfastness, your integrity and your grace in the face of pre- and post-apartheid opposition and criticism.

As SAMRO continues to strive to be a corporate citizen with a conscience, a citizen that uses its stature and position of influence responsibly, we can only hope to mirror a fraction of the dignity and sobriety you unwaveringly displayed when consciously and conscientiously choosing the high road over the easy, common road. We hope to bring honour to your legacy by seeking to live up to your ideals of democracy, freedom, harmony and equality.

We honour your life and your legacy Nkosi Dalibhunga. In the words sung by the late, great music creator, Brenda Nokuzola Fassie, we salute you and bid you a hero’s farewell, qhawe lama qhawe:

“Let us rejoice for our President

Let us sing for our President

Let us pray for our President

Let us sing, let us dance

For Madiba, Madiba’s freedom”

SAMRO TACKLES PIRACY THROUGH PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN

As music users, you know the importance and value of paying for the music you use to those who create it. But, in spite of years of campaigns, composers and authors in South Africa, and around the world, continue to suffer the devastating blows of music piracy.

As an organisation that plays a vital role in the administration of works and distribution of royalties for composers and authors’ works, SAMRO takes the issue of music piracy very seriously. Because of this we’re embarking on an intensive public education campaign to fight music piracy by changing the mindset of music lovers.

The decision to focus on public education came following research conducted by SAMRO into various strategies that could best approach the issue within the scope of the organisation. The anti-piracy education campaign that we have chosen to implement is similar to the public education campaigns successfully mounted in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden.

The campaign aims to educate music listeners, particularly school learners, about the negative impact of piracy on the music they love.

According to Pfanani Lishivha, Executive GM: Rights-Holder Services, ignorance is one of the key issues fuelling music piracy. “Many people have no idea that copying music CDs is illegal, nor do they have any understanding of how the illegal burning of CDs, the illegal downloading of music and buying CDs from music pirates affects the musicians themselves.

“I like to compare their act to walking into a book store and stealing a book, or a music store and stealing a CD, most people wouldn’t dream of doing that, yet those same people would copy a CD without the same consideration!” says Lishivha.

We’ve already partnered with a number of schools and universities and are emboldened by the positive response we’ve received from students, learners, parents and teachers. To support the public education campaign, SAMRO has produced four booklets aimed at different age groups that approach the topic from the varying perspectives of young learners, students and the general public.

This is a long-term project and Lishivha confirms that SAMRO is willing to partner with any organisation in the fight against music piracy. In 2014 SAMRO will also start partnering with popular music artists, whose own experiences of piracy will take the message home. As a valued music user, you can also play a role in this public education campaign and we look forward to your ideas and partnership in 2014.

SAMRO’S FESTIVE SEASON CLOSING DATES

What a wonderful year 2013 has been! We would like to thank you, all our valued members, for your continued support and creativity.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with you in 2014 which is already promising to be a good one, filled with exciting developments and much music.

SAMRO would like to wish you and your families a blessed and safe festive season and a prosperous New Year.

Yours in music

SAMRO

MAMA DANCE! MUSIC SOLUTIONS’ CELEBRATES BUSY YEAR!

It’s been a busy year at Mama Dance! Music Solutions. The company’s production music library grew by 17 albums to a total of 63 albums with compositions from over 50 of South Africa’s most talented composers.

Alongside expanding their already large library of music, Mama Dance! also worked on original scores for Sunlight, Vicks and Afro Coffee to name a few. And to top it all, the company took on an eight-month project, supervising the music for the much anticipated and lauded biopic of Nelson Mandela, The Long Walk to Freedom as well as the HBO movie Mary and Martha.

“Mama Dance has been a big player in the South African music industry for almost 20 years,” says Mama Dance’s Craig McGahey. “We have had to re invent ourselves a few times as the sector has evolved. I was flogging kwaito in London in the early 90’s, ran an edgy studio in Obs from 1997 that led to Mama Dance Records and launched chart- topping acts like Dantai, Jerusha and KB. As the traditional music industry became less financially viable, we quickly shifted our focus to advertising, film and TV and have never looked back.”

Over the past 10 years the company has composed jingles for hundreds of TV ads and has been very busy with music searches, licensing and music research. The Mama Dance! music library has grown to over 2500 tracks from over 50 top South African and African composers and is distributed worldwide by SONOTON. It is available to South African users on hard drives or from the fantastic search and download site, www.mamadance.com.

“I think our greatest achievement has been the success of the Mama Dance! Music Library,” says Craig. “It’s really rewarding to work with our super talented composers to create high quality music specially crafted to work with picture or to evoke specific emotions from the viewer. I get a lot of joy seeing who’s earned well when we make our bi -annual composer payments.”

For example, last year a track that was released 12 years ago on Mama Dance! Music Library’s first library album earned enough money for the composer to set up a new home studio in Gugulethu Craig believes that production music is an important revenue stream for composers and artists who have seen other music royalties diminish drastically due to piracy.

Facebook + Twitter Feeds

Contents: