SHOWBUZZ: Skiza to help artistes draw contracts

Daddy Owen strongly urged his fellow musicians to opt out of contracts with CSPs if they felt cheated.

PHOTO| FILE

What you need to know:

  • Also at the event was artiste Daddy Owen who strongly urged his fellow musicians to opt out of contracts with CSPs if they felt cheated.

Skiza has announced that it will help Kenyan artistes draw up contracts to enable them legally claim royalties through their Content Service Providers (CSPs).

Speaking at a Skiza forum in Nairobi at the Carnivore restaurant, Safaricom’s Director of Corporate Affairs Steve Chege said lack of contracts between artistes and CSPs is the first sign of trouble when it comes to collection of royalties.

“Safaricom is working with our lawyers to create template contracts for artistes for free.  Your song is your asset, it is your right. You’ll see the element that says you are the one who gets paid the most. Everyone in the food chain must be compensated. Have a legal claim so that when Safaricom pays you at the end of the contract you can ask ‘where is my money?’ They can’t tell you any differently, the contract will state what percentage you are owed,” he said.

Artistes can now access their Skiza back-end information to figure out how much they have earned through a portal created by Safaricom.

The running theme at the event was the unsatisfactory service artistes receive from various CSPs.

Also at the event was artiste Daddy Owen who strongly urged his fellow musicians to opt out of contracts with CSPs if they felt cheated.

He advised that they put pressure on broadcasters, event organisers and other industry players and ask questions in order to be equipped with enough information to empower them.

“If these guys are not giving you what you deserve, then leave,” said Owen adding “Going by Skiza tunes, our music is popular. There are 132,000 songs on Skiza tunes, 125,000 of those are Kenyan so don’t lie to us that Kenyans want other artistes to come and perform here, we are more than enough,” he said.