SAMRO opens access to undocumented works

The organisation says the new platform will ease the royalty claim process while enhancing transparency. Before the new platform was launched, only SAMRO Publisher members could access the list of undocumented works. No other collecting music society offers this service in Africa.

“We are committed to improving our service offering to our members and transparency is key to achieving that,” SAMRO CEO Mark Rosin said. “Giving all our members access to the undocumented list of works as opposed to a select few will come as good news to our composer members, who previously didn’t have access to this category of works.”

Rosin said the organisation’s capacity to pay out royalties to its members depended on the quality of the ownership data submitted.

“When this data cannot be adequately verified and successfully matched to its rightful owners, it gets categorised as undocumented works. It will stay as such until the requisite information is provided in order to legitimately process the claim. Our Publisher members have always had a right to claim from this list of works, but as of 7 September we have made technical enhancements to our member portal for access to be granted to all SAMRO members,” he said.

Rosin says undocumented works have been on the increase over the years, and in the financial year that ended 30 June, SAMRO paid out more than R50m ($2.9m) from undocumented works – a record amount.

“These figures clearly demonstrate that we are making progress in maximising value for our members, while continuing to contain operating costs in order to significantly reduce our cost-to-income ratio,” Rosin said.

“We remain resolutely committed to serving our members as best as we can. We will continue to find innovative ways to enhance our standing as an efficient and commercially viable entity, keeping our members’ interests as our core focus.”

The move adds to SAMRO’s recent efforts to improve its services. Last week, the music society announced a decision to sell its subsidiary, the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), which SAMRO said was one of several restructuring outcomes in line with a push to reduce operating costs and improve efficiency at the two organisations.