For many artists and songwriters, creating the music is only the beginning. Understanding how copyright, performing rights and royalties work can be just as important to building a sustainable career in the music industry. Yet, for many creators, the processes behind collecting and distributing royalties remain unclear.
To unpack how these systems work and what artists need to know to ensure they are properly compensated for their work, we spoke to Karabo Senna, General Manager of Sales and Licensing at SAMRO. From understanding SAMRO’s role in collecting royalties for composers and authors to navigating performing rights, registering works and avoiding common reasons for unclaimed royalties, Senna offers insight into the often-overlooked business side of music.
For someone who has heard of SAMRO but doesn’t really understand what it does, how would you explain SAMRO’s role in the South African music industry?
The simplest way to look at SAMRO is that we collect royalties. When music is created, there are two types of individuals identified. The first individual is the individual who creates the beat. They are called the composers. The individuals who write the lyrics are called the authors. SAMRO is made for those individuals. Whenever people use music, they are entitled to be paid out royalties and SAMRO collects those royalties on behalf of authors and composers.
Let’s start with the concept of Performing Rights. What exactly are Performing Rights, and when does a songwriter or composer earn money from them?
Once a song is created, it has copyright. According to section 6 of the copyright act, anytime music is used in a public setting, royalties are to be paid out for the performance right of the song. Anytime you use music in a public setting, you must have a license because royalties have to be paid.
There is often confusion between the songwriter, the performer and the owner of a sound recording. Can you explain who SAMRO represents and whose rights it administers?
It’s important to note that there are two rights. One is called the copyright in the composition. This is speaks to people who create the song, namely, the composer, the beat maker, the people who wrote the lyrics and the publisher. On the other side, we have the copyright in the recording. This is the record label and the artists. It’s important to note that the creator of the song and the artists are two different people. In technical terms, we call those the publishing right and the master recording right. SAMRO and CAPASSO will focus on the publishing right and SAMPRA and RISA will focus on the master rights.
What does an artist actually need to do to become a SAMRO member?
If you are a creator, which is also called a composer or author, you follow the creator wizard on the SAMRO website. You will then have to pay a once off fee of R100. If you are a publisher, you will have to a pay a once off fee of R500. It’s important to note that you at least have one song created when you register to become a member.
Once a songwriter registers a work with SAMRO, what happens behind the scenes?
We register you as a songwriter. From there, you will have an IPI code. This code is like your ID in the world. However, a song has two ID’s which are the ISWC code and ISRC code. Those codes are used to identify your song anywhere in the world. So, if your music where to be played in another country, your rights would be allocated accordingly. SAMRO collects international performing rights and SAMRO has collected performance rights to the tune of R14 million. That is for the performance right only. Remember, there are performing rights, mechanical rights and neighbouring rights which are often exploited at the same time.
How are SAMRO royalties calculated?
Firstly, we go to the users of music, and we can use Metro FM as an example, and their license for the year would cost R10 million for example. Metro’s job would be to keep a log of all of the music used for the year. For this example, let’s say that they used 10 million seconds of music. All we would do is take the R10 million and divide it by 10 million seconds to get what we call a unit rate. For this example, they unit rate would be R1. In order for you to know how much is due to you, you would take the unit rate and multiply it by the number of seconds your music was played. Each music user has a different unit rate and those unit rates can be found on the SAMRO website under the documents tab.
One of the biggest frustrations for artists is knowing whether they are actually receiving all the money they are owed. What are the most common reasons a songwriter might have royalties sitting unclaimed or not being paid to them?
Let’s begin with how music is distributed by SAMRO. We have what we call a distribution schedule that details when and what royalties are paid for. This distribution schedule is available on the SAMRO website. SAMRO has 22 split payments throughout the year.
Now we can move on the common reasons individuals are not paid. People don’t get paid because they have not notified SAMRO about their works. We end up holding money until we get notified about the work. In other cases, people need to follow up on their statements. In some instances, music from television and radio gets mislabelled. We encourage individuals to go to undocumented works to see if their music exists there. The final reason individuals do not get paid is that they have not submitted their banking details.
Finally, what is the biggest misconception you encounter about SAMRO and music royalties?
The biggest misconception is around when an individual will be paid their royalties. People often think that their royalties will be paid in a week or a year. With collective management organisations there is often a lag and that lag could be a year. The best thing you can do as an artist is make sure that your admin is set up correctly, especially your split sheets, because no one knows how big a song will be. Once the money comes in, that’s where the arguments usually begin.