Kenyan creators to earn more from ringback tones

Yesterday, President Uhuru Kenyatta approved the Kenya Copyright Amendment Bill of 2021, which regulates how revenue will be shared among creators, telecommunications companies and premium rate service providers.

The new law entitles artists the right to earn no less than 52% of revenues made from ringback tones, which are subscription-based tunes played by telcos to callers. Telcos, in turn, will pocket 39.5% of revenues, while premium rate service providers, which own the tech and platforms linking callers to ringback tones, will make 8.5%.

Musicians’ lobby groups have continuously fought for a fairer revenue sharing formula, with artists previously receiving only an average of 16% of earnings, while 25% and 51% went to the taxman and mobile phone operators, respectively. The most recent cut for creators was set at 40% on Safaricom’s Skiza Tunes platform, the biggest of its kind in the East African nation. 

“Artists put a lot of effort into making their music and Skiza is one of the channels they use to market it,” Kenyan musician and MP Charles Njagua, whose stage name is Jaguar, wrote on social media. “I am part of the 12th Parliament that, through various engagements, passed the bill that has tripled [sic] the revenue earned to 52%. We will continue supporting our own to make their careers a success.”

Other artists who have welcomed the enactment of the law include rapper Khaligraph Jones, gospel musician Daddy Owen as well Guardian Angel and Maureen Kunga from the Elani band, who have called it a step in the right direction.

Artists and creators with existing direct contracts will have to wait until their agreements expire before the new law can apply to them. 

The law also mandates the National Rights Registry, under the Kenya Copyright Board, to maintain an online portal for registration of copyrighted works, and to track, monitor and disseminate data or logs related to access of registered works.

Amendments to Kenya’s Copyright Act were tabled in Parliament by Homa Bay County woman representative Gladys Wanga in late November. However, one particular amendment did not sit well with creators after it appeared to encourage piracy of online content. Wanga later withdrew that provision, paving the way for Parliament to pass the amendment bill on 24 February. 

Partners Against Piracy convener and the founder of PHAT! Music & Entertainment, Mike Strano, said: “We sincerely appreciate the 12th Parliament for dropping Clauses 5, 6 and 7 in the Copyright Amendment Bill 2021, before it went to the president. These clauses sought to repeal Sections 35B, 35C and 35D in the Copyright Act, which deal with the responsibilities of internet service providers, which would have undone the excellent legislation that this same Parliament passed in 2019.”

Ringback tones have proven to be a reliable revenue stream for many Kenyan artists, with annual gross income estimated at Ksh7.58bn ($65.8m). 

With more than nine million subscribers, Skiza Tunes is the largest ringback tones platform in Kenya. At its launch in 2009, Skiza Tunes gave artists 7.5% of revenue generated, before increasing it to 30% in 2017 after negotiations with the Kenya Association of Music Producers, the Performers Rights Society of Kenya and the Music Copyright Society of Kenya.

In August last year, Skiza Tunes revised the rates upwards again to 40%, and will have to increase them once again by 12% due to the new law.

Similar platforms to Skiza in Kenya are Airtel’s Hellotunes and Telkom’s Beat Yangu.