The Rwandan Society of Authors (RSAU) yesterday, August 6, rewarded artists with royalties as the country celebrated the annual national harvest day, commonly known as Umuganura. Epaphrodite Binamungu, the chairman of RSAU, told The New Times that the initiative of helping artistes generate money from various companies that use their songs is being implemented in relation to the law about ‘the right to protection of intellectual property’. The law on the Protection of Intellectual Property is defined by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) as “creations of the mind, such as inventions, literacy and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce.” “We sign contracts with artists and work with the companies to use their art/songs. They give us a list of songs played the most and they pay according to the tariffs agreed,” Binamungu said. This is the second time that artistes are rewarded royalties from their songs, the first being last year. Over Rwf18,000,000 was generated this year, which, according to Binamungu was distributed from more than 290 Rwandan artists and more than 700 international artists. The RSAU chairman explained that international artistes are still dominating the playlists but assured that local artistes are still earning the highest from their royalties. “International artistes didn’t get as much money as their local counterparts. Yes, you may be a foreign artiste and get one play, yet the local artists get to be played more often,” Binamungu explained. The best local artists who got the most power-play throughout the last twelve months are Bruce Melody, Eric Senderi, Lil G and The Ben, according to a source that requested anonymity. Royalties are normally supposed to be collected from different business companies including radio stations, TV stations, clubs, hotels, restaurants, bars, public transportation cars, saloons and gyms among others. However, The New Times has learned that only one radio station, Isangano, paid for using the songs, while MTN was the only telecommunication company that paid royalties. RSAU urged companies to work well with artists and value the rights to protect intellectual property.
