COVID-19: SAMRO secures reprieve from banks for members

The announcement follows SAMRO’s plea to landlords and banks to work with artists amid coronavirus restrictions.

SAMRO CEO Mark Rosin said the collective management organisation was impressed by the outcome from creditors.

“We are very pleased to note that the response by various stakeholders to that call has been extremely positive, with nearly all the big five banks announcing some form of relief to their customers,” Rosin said. “The current state of the economy, exacerbated by the restrictions on movement of people in an attempt to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, affected our members most severely and we are delighted that we have been in a position to lighten the burden somewhat.”

Rosin said about 10 000 SAMRO members had benefited from R63m ($3.4m) in TV royalty distribution, which was completed on 30 March. He said SAMRO had also disbursed radio royalties amounting to R141m in February, making it the highest radio distribution in the past five years.

“The ongoing achievement of higher royalty collection and distributions is the result of the efficiency measures we recently put in place. It is one of our priorities to put more cash in the pockets of our members and this can only be achieved by ensuring we license more, we continue to reduce our cost-to-income ratio and we actively find other revenue streams.”

Rosin said SAMRO would continue to act in the best interest of its members during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the CMO would work on persuading local broadcasters to play local content.

“This will help when we pay out future royalty distributions and, in some way, mitigate the potential loss of income for members that rely on live shows. While live income has dried up, we will help members, where we are able, to access the fund made available by the Department of Arts and Culture to compensate performers where shows have been cancelled,” he said.

Rosin said SAMRO was working on a number of areas designed to benefit members, such as its funeral policy, which was recently increased from R20 000 to R25 000 per member.

“We are working hard to collect more on behalf of our members and will do our utmost to ensure that the coronavirus pandemic does not derail us from achieving our aims and initiatives,” he said.