Music In Africa to co-host debate on Kenyan music policy

This topic is of vital importance in the East African nation. At the beginning of 2015, Kenya's music industry stakeholders were in high hopes when the country's Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture in Kenya released a new draft of the country's music policy, on which work first began back in 2006.

Even though a 10-member committee had been mandated to streamline the Kenyan music industry, review the legal and institutional framework and recommend implementation plans through the formulation of a robust national music policy, the policy draft failed to spell out some of the key areas of interest for the music industry and was met with widespread criticism and confusion. Although the policy aptly stressed that a 60% quota of Kenyan music content needed to be enforced for all media owners, what exactly qualifies as "Kenyan content" was never clearly defined. Others expressed concerts about music consumers being largely ignored by the draft music policy, as well as the multiplicity of licenses provided under the existing legal framework for collective management of copyrights and related rights in Kenya.

Coming at a time when a vast portion of the content played on Kenyan radio and television stations is foreign, the national music policy draft was seen as one of the few steps taken to safeguard the nation’s musical heritage. However, the so-called 'launch' of the policy did not result in actual implementation. Throughout the year, as artists took to the streets to protest against the dominance of foreign content on Kenyan airwaves, no move was taken by the ministry, leaving many to ask the question: what happened after the launch of the policy?

Taking the conversation forward

The proposed policy document is just one measure taken to reform a market that is already heavily saturated with foreign material and numerous other challenges. The upcoming discussion hopes to enlighten many of them Kenyan artists who seem not to be aware of what the policy draft is all about. It will also explore the current state of affairs in the field of music copyrights and how royalties work, as well as the sensitive issue of local versus foreign content on Kenyan radio (particularly following the South African Broadcasting Corporation's landmark decision to introduce a 90% quota for local music on all 18 of its radio stations).

Already confirmed to participate at the roundtable discussion is Perry Alando of the Talent Management Agency, who came out strongly against the proposed new laws, particularly the proposed Music Trust Fund to 'fix’ gate fees for all event organizers. Alando has also worked as an artist and manager and staged concerts for performers such as Tangerine Fusion and Jabali Afrika. He also teamed up with The Media Machine to put together concerts that featured “River Road megastars” such as Faustin Munishi, Mary Atieno, Mary Wambui, Shari Martin, the Kassangas and Faith Kithele.

Also confirmed to the upcoming discussion is Merit Simiyu Wambati, operations manager and acting CEO of the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK). Wambati joined MCSK in October 2008 and was instrumental in the formation of their human resources department, which involved restructuring the team, designing and implementing the strategic plan and helping achieve international certification. Wambati is currently part of the technical team formed by Kenya's three Collective Management Organisations to develop a joint tariff and has also been involved in the recent royalties payout for artists owed by Safaricom's Skiza Tunes platform.

Other panelists will be announced soon.

The discussion starts at 6:00pm on Wednesday 29 June at the Goethe-Institut Auditorium in Nairobi. The event is free and open to everyone. For any inquiries email Beth Achitsa at [email protected].

The session is Music In Africa's second "offline" engagement with Kenyan music industry stakeholders this year in a bid to facilitate information and knowledge sharing within the industry. In February Music In Africa held a successful concert with the Goethe-Institut to showcase new emerging talents on the Kenyan music scene.