By Thandeka Matebesi
Bulawayo Musicians Association (BMA) has expressed satisfaction over the tabling of licences in foreign currency by the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (Zimura) saying this will see the payment of royalties in foreign currency.
BMA is a grouping of over 100 musicians in and around Bulawayo.
Chairperson of the association Thulani Dube said pegging music licences in foreign currency was a welcome development which would protect the artists’ share from inflation.
“We are happy with the tabling of fees in US dollar because it means we should be expecting the royalties in the same currency,” Dube said.
“Our members who got a slice of the recent round of royalties are not happy with the amounts they received. The monies were in local currency and value was already eroded before they even received the money,” said Dube.
He added: “We feel the amounts being levied might be a bit high for now considering the current state of our economy and that people are still struggling to access the US Dollar.”
Dube urged Zimura to adopt modern methods in collecting revenue.
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“As an association, we are looking forward to continuing cordial relations with Zimura and we feel they need to engage flourishing collection houses from established revenue collectors so as to maximise their effectiveness and efficiency in their collection,” he said.
“They need to invade the modern digital space and collect more royalties for our members there and also abolish the manual exhaustive system being maintained by broadcasters to a more clever detection system.”
