The Southern Africa Music Rights Organisation (Samro) has announced that it has started collecting royalties on behalf of its members from digital platforms TikTok, Facebook, and Netflix, after having concluded licensing agreements with them.
Samro chairperson Nicholas Maweni said the organisation would collect the royalties from the popular platforms with immediate effect.
“This deal is going to enrich these platforms through the use of high-quality content produced by our members while at the same time broadening the scope and usage of member content,” said Maweni.
He said before the licensing deal, platforms such as Facebook prohibited the use of copyright-protected content on their networks.
“This will inevitably result in enhanced revenue for Samro members,” he said.
Maweni added: “The technological evolution we are experiencing is a welcome development as it creates new avenues through which the public can experience creative works while at the same opening up new opportunities for our members.”
He said Samro's deal with the digital platforms follows an existing arrangement with the search engine Google.
Maweni said the Samro board is committed to efficiently administering music rights on behalf of music composers, authors and publishers.
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