SAMPRA, IMPRA and SABC go to arbitration over needletime dispute

The meeting was also attended by representatives from the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and sought to map a way forward. The meeting resolved that the three parties would refer the dispute to arbitration in order to find a speedier solution. It also resolved that the terms of reference for the arbitration process would confirm that it is a legal matter and that what needs to be determined is the question of licensing and receipt of needletime licence fees.

According to 2019 media reports, the SABC owed SAMPRA about R104.2m. In 2018, the national broadcaster reportedly paid out R22m at a 75:25 IMPRA-SAMPRA split for the 2014-15 period. This earned the ire of SAMPRA, which argued then that it represented 90% of the tracks used by the SABC and therefore the split was grossly disproportionate.

When asked this week for an updated balance on the money the SABC owes SAMPRA, the body's chief stakeholder officer, Tiyani Maluleke, said it would be premature to discuss amounts before the conclusion of the mutually agreed arbitration process. She did say, however, that SAMPRA "has never at any point received any payment from the SABC."

SAMPRA added that the three parties had agreed to alleviate the plight of artists during the COVID-19 crisis, and that the SABC would make a minimal advance payment to SAMPRA and IMPRA while the dispute was being resolved.

“Once the arbitration process has been concluded, the parties will identify track ownership from the SABC playlists for the period 2015-16 and 2019-20,” SAMPRA said. “After the identification of track ownership and after invoices have been received, advances paid to SAMPRA and IMPRA will be offset against the remaining total owing by the SABC for needletime rights.

“The SABC will then pay the correct amount due to each collective management organisation as per the identification of track ownership as determined through the process of arbitration. The arbitration process will also resolve the disputed 2014-15 needletime rights payment. After the payment of outstanding royalties, the SABC will start paying their licence fees either monthly or quarterly.”

SAMPRA said the dispute was far from over and that a resolution could only be reached after the arbitration process, which was expected to take about six months.

“The advance that the SABC has undertaken to pay to SAMPRA is a minute fraction of what is due in total for needletime rights,” SAMPRA said.

In October last year, the South African government handed the SABC a R2.1bn bailout. Less than a month later, the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), which according to reports was owed R160m by the public broadcaster, reported that the SABC had paid 35% towards reducing its debt with the collective management organisation.

“The public broadcaster has committed to honouring monthly payments as agreed with SAMRO and by April 2020, the outstanding debt will be settled in full and current financial year invoices will be up to date,” SAMRO said at the time.

Watch below a 2018 video in which SAMPRA CEO Pfanani Lishivha committed to pursue legal action against the SABC: