Trouble has knocked at MCSK’s door again and this time round, they are not going to escape like the previous trouble episodes.
In Kenya, all business premises that play local music are required to acquire a certificate from MCSK.
MCSK was founded to fight for the ‘weak’ since musicians could not collect their royalties from those exploiting their music.
However this institution has been marred by many allegations of failure to pay artistes their much deserved royalties. While MCSK employees take home hefty checks, many artistes are left suffering because they have no idea how MCSK collects and distributes royalties, actually, no one knows.
Remember last year when Sermons were issued to Maurice Okoth in September so that he could explain the ongoing allegations of misappropriation of funds at the institution?
MCSK had actually been accused of withdrawing Sh6 million irregularly, but Maurice claimed that there were records accounting for the money which was used to pay members.
This is not the first time that Kenyan artistes are demanding their dues from MCSK.
Last year in October 2015, a popular artist Ringtone and other artistes protested over MCSK’s alleged misappropriation of their royalties.
Well this time around, Elani is the other music group to talk about their mistreatment from MCSK.
Elani which consists of Bryan Chweya, Maureen Kunga and Wambui Ngugi, has been rated among the top bands in Kenya have been keeping it low for a while now. We can clearly remember them for their hit songs KooKoo, Jana Usiku and Hapo Zamani.
They are calling out to MCSK to be transparent, and let every artiste know where the money they collect goes to. They had a very horrible experience with MCSK and below is the video where the group is talking about their experience.
They are wondering why money is not coming from MCSK yet radio stations, banks, taxi owners, bus owners and matatu owners, salons and kinyozis, and event organizers always pay. If everyone gives money to MCSK, why isn’t it coming out? Garbage in, garbage out.
Who monitors the activities of MCSK?
A few months ago, questions were raised to MCSK and up to now, they haven’t been responded to. Yes, we still want to understand;
“Is MCSK right to strike deals on behalf of its members? If yes, what method does this body uses to monitor music sales transacted over the internet? Is the method transparent? And if it is, those represented, are they being served with records showing the transactions?”
“Do all registered members of this society receive their yearly royalties and if not why? If yes, can MCSK as a transparent non-profit making organization provide all the payment records since its formation?”
Artistes and Kenyans at large would be at peace if MCSK answered these questions and actually acted on the compelling issues raised.
Nothing really polishes a podcast more than background music or theme music.
Not only did they record multiple platinum records, but they wrote numerous songs for other artists.
In the 1980s and 1990s, it would not have been completety unexpected to come
across a young man wearing dungarees in any street in the UK.