MCSK, PRISK, KAMP Move to Court Over KECOBO Delisting

The three Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) – Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP), Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK) and the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) have moved to court to protest the decision by the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) to revoke their licenses.

Last week, KECOBO deregistered the CMOs for three months over failure to meet several conditions set out in their provisional licenses.

Among the conditions was the allocation of 70 percent of revenue for royalty payment. The board accused the CMOs of distributing only Sh41 million out of the Sh114 million collected.

The CMOs then filed an urgent application before High Court Constitutional and Human Rights Division in Milimani High Court.

The High Court quashed the KECOBO directive and allowed KAMP, MCSK, PRISK to continue operating until November 3, when their application challenging the deregistration will be heard.

“Pending the hearing and determination of the applicant’s cross-petition herein interim conservatory orders do issue staying and/or suspending the implementation of the petitioner’s decision of revoking KAMP-PRISK-MCSK licenses contained in the letter dated 23rd August 2021 and public notice dated 24th August 2021.” Justice Weldon Korir ordered.

Speaking at a joint press conference, the CMOs admitted that only 35.9 percent had been distributed to artistes leaving Sh79 million to go to operational costs.

They cited the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, saying they had fallen short of the Sh300 million expected collection.

“We are experiencing serious challenges in terms of the tariffs that were negotiated by the regulator and the ministry of ICT. We are operating within a very harsh environment precipitated by Covid-19 and this is affecting our collections. This industry is worth Sh2 billion but we are barely scratching the surface and that is why we are urging for a level playing ground so as to help serve our members well,” said Njoroge Mbugua, Kamp CEO.

“We are asking the government that we go back to the drawing board and look at all the issues affecting the industry so that at the end we can solve the issues. We believe that we have that window to engage the government as no one wants to misuse royalties made for our members. We have reduced our operations to reducible minimums and what we now need is support from the government to get back to where we were. We are willing to engage,” said the MCSK chairman Lazarus Muli.

source https://nairobiwire.com/2021/09/mcsk-prisk-kamp-move-to-court-over-kecobo-delisting.html