ZIMBABWE COUNCIL OF COPYRIGHTS ROLLS OUT NEW TRACKING SYSTEM TO BOOST ROYALTY TRANSPARENCY FOR ARTISTS
By Desire Tshuma
HARARE โ The Zimbabwe Council of Copyrights (ZICCO) is moving to strengthen music monitoring and royalty collection systems while rolling out welfare support aimed at securing artistsโ livelihoods beyond their performing years.
ZICCO Chief Executive Officer Tafadzwa Masembura (pictured) said the council was introducing a more comprehensive playlist-based remote tracking system to capture music played at establishments such as buses, restaurants and hotels, where formal playlists are often not maintained. He said the absence of proper records from such music users had made it difficult to accurately identify songs being played and ensure creators benefit from royalties. โThe majority of people who play music, for example in buses, restaurants and hotels, do not keep records of what they play. They don’t have a playlist,โ Masembura said.
To close that gap, ZICCO is working with radio stations and its members to consolidate music usage information into comprehensive registers. The data will be used to improve royalty distribution and ensure payments reach the rightful rights holders.
On collection, Masembura said ZICCO was intensifying enforcement and would not abandon its mandate to ensure artists receive what is due to them. The council has set 31 August as its bi-annual royalty distribution deadline. That is the date by which royalties collected and reconciled for the January to June period are processed and paid out to members. A second distribution cycle follows later in the year for the July to December period. โWe are not going to stop until we make sure they get what is theirs,โ Masembura said. โWe pursue outstanding payments on a daily basis to ensure that musicians do not lose income generated from the use of their works.โ
He added that ZICCO was promoting transparency in how money is collected and shared. โWe promote transparency in our activities. If you collect US$10, that US$10 is reflected in the system, so each one of them can see what they have earned. That is what is building confidence in us,โ he said.
Masembura said ZICCO was also prioritising the welfare of musicians, arguing that artists need sustainable sources of income beyond their active music careers. He said the council was exploring projects that could help musicians build livelihoods and secure their futures. โWe see artists struggling, not only ZICCO artists, but artists in general. They worry about their future,โ Masembura said. โWe want to be guardians of projects that can sustain their lives even after music. One day, when we are no longer in music, they should have something to fall back on.โ He said ZICCO had resources available to support viable projects proposed by artists and encouraged creatives to approach the organisation with ideas that could improve their economic wellbeing.
Masembura also acknowledged challenges involving relationships with other organisations in the copyright and creative sector. โThese challenges were coming from one direction. They were coming from our sister organisation, and I think they emanated from the fact that they did not want us to approach things with our transparency,โ he said.
Despite the disputes, Masembura maintained that ZICCO would continue pursuing transparency, stronger monitoring mechanisms and improved welfare programmes to protect musicians and other rights holders. The push for better music monitoring comes amid growing calls within Zimbabweโs creative sector for more accountable royalty collection systems that can accurately track the use of locally produced music and ensure artists receive fair compensation.
