Social Media News South Africa

Samro starts to collect royalties from digital platforms

The Southern Africa Music Rights Organisation has begun collecting royalties on behalf of its members from TikTok, Facebook, and Netflix. This process started after licensing agreements were concluded with the digital platforms. This is a major step forward towards adapting its licensing and royalty payments to the changing technological landscape.

Samro chairperson, Nicholas Maweni, said, “Samro is pleased to announce that we have entered into licensing agreements with short form video content social media platform TikTok, global social media powerhouse Facebook as well as the video streaming subscription platform Netflix that will benefit members. Thanks to the conclusion of these binding agreements, Samro will be able to collect royalties on behalf of members, for all copyright-protected content that features on these platforms, with immediate effect.”

Maweni said that before the conclusion of these deals, platforms such as Facebook prohibited the use of copyright-protected content on their networks, and that these deals will result in enhanced revenue for Samro members. He said, “This deal is going to enrich these platforms through the use of high-quality content produced by our members while at the same time broadening the scope and usage of member content.It is absolutely essential that as Samro we license all music users and ensure that we deliver maximum value to our members."

According to Maweni, Samro's deals with TikTok, Netflix, and Facebook follow a previously existing arrangement with Google. The Samro board is committed to adminstering music rights on behalf of music composers, authors, and publishers.

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