Hope for Rwandan artistes to get royalties from their works remains a distant dream, as to date there is no mechanism to ensure that musicians, and other artists get paid whenever their intellectual property is used. Singers like Mani Martin continue to wait in vain for proceeds from their work but they say there isn’t much to wait for. “Right now I am counting ten years of my music career as a professional, but I have never been paid any coin in form of royalties,” Mani Martin testified. Of all his four albums released, only one song has earned him royalties from Voice of America (VOA) which uses it in “Generation Grand Lake show”. Since the contemporary music industry emerged in the early 2000’s, there have been efforts to ensure that artistes get paid royalties whenever their products are used but the unending discussion has always been about how this can be done. For almost two decades, even the industry’s pioneers have grappled the idea of royalties, with the likes of Cecile Kayirebwa going as far as suing media outlets for using their products. Media outlets also say they cannot play music to promote artistes if they want royalties because they believe the artistes will not be popular if the media houses don’t play their music –something that has left a big dilemma behind. “We should find a way of ensuring that royalties are paid. Even though there are no royalties at the moment, they should be paid and we must find a way,” stresses Intore Tuyisenge, the president of Rwanda Music Federation. The singer says that the law is very clear but what lacks is implementation. Law N° 31/2009 of 26/10/2009 on the protection of intellectual property and its importance stipulates that intellectual property must be given value. “Copyright law is in already place, but the implementation is the problem. We need to find ways of ensuring that the law is respected,” argues Tuyisenge. Mani Martin, also believes that using artistes work for free under the guise of promoting them should stop. The Afrobeat and Gakondo singer says it is tantamount to exploitation. He says artistes spend a lot of money to create music and content and should be able to earn from it. Similar sentiments are shared by Crezzo G Samuelo, artiste and Secretary-General of Rwanda Modern Music Union. He says artistes go through a lot of struggles to produce songs and shoot videos but in the end they don’t gain much from their efforts. The Afrobeat singer, who recently released an Afro-soul single, ‘Urihariye’, featuring the upcoming vocal gem Milqua Lee, believes the issue is mainly attributed to content users not understanding the importance of royalties. There have been efforts in the past to enforce the copyright law by Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the Ministry of Trade and Industry together with Rwanda Society of Authors (RSAU) but since 2017, there has been little achieved. Tuyisenge remains optimistic that if the concerned institutions continue to push, perhaps the law will be enforced. Efforts to get a comment from RDB by press time were futile. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
