From the CEO’s desk - SAMRO Michel Jarre, who is the new CISAC President. We hope you enjoy this...

SAMRO NOTES // 32 // SAMRO NOTES

Editor-in-chief: Tiyani Maluleke | Editor: Kgomotso Mosenogi | Project management: JT Communications Solutions | Sub-editor/Writer: Christina Kennedy | Contributors: Rami Nhlapo, Annette Bayne, Atiyyah Khan, Steve Leach, Nadia Neophytou, Nikki Temkin and Xolani Zulu | Guest writers: Arthur Goldstuck, Thebe Ikalafeng, Yoel Kenan and Nick Matzukis | Additional research and photo sourcing: Dee’s Harilal | Design and layout: Mortimer Harvey | Printing: Lebone Litho Printers | Photography: All photos courtesy of SAMRO, unless otherwise specified.

But there are massive shoes to fill, and here I pay tribute to my predecessor, Nick Motsatse, who has not only been an able and inspirational mentor over the past several months of the leadership transition, but has been pivotal in the building of a strong and dynamic organisation. His insights will be missed, but his legacy is still felt every day, in every corridor, at SAMRO Place.

I hope to continue with the realisation of SAMRO’s broader vision, which is to reinforce our standing as a high-performance global asset management organisation that is focused on protecting and growing the value of copyright.

What a privilege and honour it is to be taking over as CEO during such exciting times at SAMRO. I am truly humbled by the task, and hope to serve the interests of you, our members, to the very best of my ability.

From the

CEO’s desk

On the cover: Wawela Musi Awards. Photos courtesy of SAMRO

Sipho Dlamini Chief Executive Officer

It is no secret that in today’s wired society, copyright protection often falls by the wayside in the consumption of content – including music – and we need to be smart to keep pace with our changing operating environment. But I’m confident that we have already made great strides in this direction, and are well on track to chart new territory as a global copyright administration society rooted firmly in the realities of the African music consumption landscape.

SAMRO does not operate in a vacuum, but is committed to developing its stakeholders and associates, while investing in highly skilled and committed staff with a high service ethic. Collectively, we are forging a credible and accessible organisation that prizes innovation and rewards creativity.

Having said that, there is still much work to be done. We have done well in getting the ball rolling on updating and streamlining our internal processes and business systems, with a view to making the way we do business easier for music users, music creators and our own staff. But there is still quite a way to go before we function at optimal levels, all with a view to promoting easy accessibility and maximising income to our members.

On a final note, I would like to congratulate all the winners of our inaugural Wawela Music Awards, held in June. You truly epitomise the pinnacle of achievement in the arena of original music and are an inspiration to future generations of composers.

We hope to further grow these important industry awards in 2014, in profile and prestige, to show our appreciation for those who create the musical magic we hear around us on a variety of media platforms every day.


In this edition of SAMRO Notes, we bring you all the “blue-carpet” glamouras well as the low-down on all the big winners on the night.

This is a flagship project that is very close to our hearts, because we truly believe in the quality of our hard-working music authors and composers, and know that they so often go unacknowledged. That’s precisely why we resolved to remedy the situation with the annual Wawela Music Awards.

Suffice it to say that our country need not step back a single inch when it comes to producing home-grown musical compositions of an international standard – we rock!

Also in our pages this month, we bid a very sad but fond farewell to the long-serving captain of our ship, CEO Nick Motsatse. He has been instrumental in carving out a niche for SAMRO as a respected copyright asset management company to be reckoned with on the global stage, and we will miss his steady guiding hand at the helm.

But in the same breath we welcome Sipho Dlamini as SAMRO’s new CEO, and are confident that he will build on the solid foundation his predecessors have laid as we take further steps into a bright and promising future for our business. You can read interviews with both outgoing and incoming Chief Executives in these pages.

The magazine is also jam-packed with fascinating feature articles that are sure to both entertain and enlighten you – on music-related subjects such as the digital revolution, publishing, streaming, branding and festivals.

There’s also a selection of internal news from the SAMRO Foundation, DALRO, Rights Holder Services and the joint Mechanical Rights company being set up by SAMRO and NORM.

Plus, we catch up with internationally lauded soprano Pretty Yende and Freshly Ground, who recently topped the iTunes world music chart in the USA.

A special word of congratulations goes out to the incredible Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo, who was recently announced as a Vice-president of SAMRO’s global parent body CISAC (the International Federation of Societies of Authors and Composers).

Kidjo hails from Benin and is a committed music rights advocate and humanitarian, and SAMRO is proud that Africa has a strong presence in the top echelons of CISAC, with Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow also clinching a leadership position. We also send our best wishes to the other newly elected leaders, including electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre, who is the new CISAC President.

We hope you enjoy this edition of SAMRO Notes. Our marketing and communications team strives to continue to add value to your interactions with SAMRO through this magazine and other platforms, such as our monthly Beat Bulletin e-newsletters, our website and our 24-7 Communication Hub. Please feel free to get in touch with us and share your thoughts, comments and suggestions for future editions.

We at SAMRO are still floating on cloud nine following the very successful hosting of our inaugural Wawela Music Awards in June – what a night; what a celebration of South African composing talent!

Letter from

the editor

Tiyani Maluleke General Manager: Marketing

contents

August 2013

8

14 21

26

48

6 Angélique Kidjo clinches top international job

7 Nick Motsatse on the value on copyright

8 Composers toasted at the 2013 Wawela Music Awards

14 Meet SAMRO’s new CEO, Sipho Dlamini

17 Outgoing CEO looks back on a fruitful tenure

20 Chairman’s note on the leadership transition

21 Joe Niemand joins the SAMRO Board

22 Wawela spotlight on: Trevor Jones

24 Wawela spotlight on: Johnny Clegg

25 Wawela spotlight on: Dorothy Masuku

26 Freshly Ground take the world by storm

27 SAMRO and NORM form single Mechanical Rights society

28 DALRO launches online licensing system

30 Introducing DALRO’s dynamic new Managing Director

32 A year of plenty for the SAMRO Foundation

34 Should musicians fear or embrace technology?

36 All you need to know about publishing agreements

38 Pfanani Lishivha’s vision for Rights Holder Services

40 Time for the digital empowerment of Africa’s talent

42 The day the music arrived

44 Why talent alone is not enough

46 How to make the most out of the festival circuit

48 Soprano Pretty Yende dazzles at the Met

50 SAMRO and Moshito news

51 In memoriam


Kidjo to champion African music rights on global stage

He went on to say that copyright is an important asset class that has trended upwards over the last 50 years. “It has had a steeper performance gradient than other asset classes over the last 10 years, is less volatile than most asset classes and isa posterity asset,” he explained.

In other words, copyright is something to be valued very highly and not to be treated lightly by musicians, producers, publishers and others in the music industry.

Motsatse posed the question: “How well do you manage the value of your copyright?” Some aspects that must be taken into account when managing your copyright are your income mandate, as well as royalty fees, licence fees and commissioning fees.

“Other areas of value are catalogue trading, publishing advances and chain of title,” asserted Motsatse. He added:

Know your

SAMROSAMRO 24/7 Communication Hub:

Telephone: 0800 247 247 (toll-free from Telkom landlines and for Telkom Mobile subscribers) International: +27 11 712 8000/8039 SMS: 45141 @ R1 per SMS E-fax: 086 688 3616 Email: [email protected]

Handy online links:

SAMRO home page www.samro.org.za

SAMRO forms www.samro.org.za/samro-forms

Twitter twitter.com/SAMROMusic

Facebook www.facebook.com/SAMROSouthAfrica

Free event listings www.samro.org.za/samro-events/submit-event

SAMRO Notes www.samro.org.za/samro-what-s-happening- south-africa/news-and-press/publications

Licensed to Play (e-newsletter for music users) www.samro.org.za/samro-what-s-happening- south-africa/news-and-press/publications

Beat Bulletin (e-newsletter for music creators) www.samro.org.za/samro-what-s-happening- south-africa/news-and-press/publications

Contact SAMRO www.samro.org.za/contact-us

For more information on theWawela Music Awards:

Wawela home page www.wawelamusicawards.co.za

Wawela email [email protected]

Wawela Twitter twitter.com/WawelaMusic

Wawela Facebook www.facebook.com/WawelaMusicAwards

Wawela contact number +27 (0)11 712 8505

‘Value your copyright highly’

– Motsatse

“Copyright is an asset.” So says Nick Motsatse, former CEO of SAMRO. This was his opening statement at the 2013 Music Exchange Conference, which took place in Cape Town earlier this year.

“All of these and licensing, selling, collection, usage monitoring, data processing and accounting should have high focus as they will reap value.” Information management, administration and legislation must also not be ignored.

Finally, Motsatse’s keys to success in the music industry are: • Be prudent with your signature; • Think “long-term” as opposed to “overnight”; • Sign nothing in perpetuity; • Seek advice;• Assess your advisers and service providers; and • Be lucky – in other words, let opportunity find you prepared.

He concluded by reiterating that “copyright is an asset thatmust be managed wisely”. Furthermore, he said, SAMRO, as your copyright asset management services organisation, takes a professional approach in making your copyright work best for you.

Photo: Angélique Kidjo – sourced from http://angelique.kidjo.com

Cost to be established

SAMRO extends its warm congratulations to the new leadership of CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, and particularly to the first African singer-songwriter to be elected to a senior position on the global authors’ rights parent body – Beninese world-music starand humanitarian Angélique Kidjo.

On 6 June 2013, Kidjo was ratified as one of four Vice-presidents of CISAC, the others being Senegalese sculptor (and fellow African) Ousmane Sow, Indian poet, scriptwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar and Argentinean film director Marcelo Piñeyro.

French electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre was appointed as the new CISAC President, following last year’s tragic passing of Robin Gibb, who had previously heldthe position.

The new CISAC leaders are culturally diverse artistic ambassadors representing disciplines including music, cinema, visual arts, theatre and literature, and will be speaking on behalf of more than three million creators around the world.

Kidjo is a renowned Grammy Award-winning music creator who has captivated audiences around the world with her Afro-pop that melds West African, Latin and European music traditions with elements of R&B, jazz and funk.

She has, however, become as well known for her hands-on philanthropy as she is for her infectious music and dynamic performances on the world’s stages. As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she has a particular passion for raising awareness of the issues facing women and children around the world.

As a global citizen firmly rooted in Africa, Kidjo is ideally placed to understand and advocate for the rights of musicians in developing countries within the broader international context. SAMRO wishes her and her fellow CISAC leaders all of the best as they embark on this new and exciting journey.


Best Soundtrack in a Feature Film or Theatric Documentary: Philip Miller for Leaving Father

Best Song or Composition in a Television Production: Gregory Reveret for Loxion Kulca Roots

Best Song or Composition in a Television Commercial: Jeramy James Barnard for the Bell’s commercial

Best Song or Composition in a Radio Commercial: René Veldsman for the Shoprite commercial

Best Creative Album of the Year: Black Porcelain for Invincible Summer

Songwriter of the Year: Lira

Best South African Duo/Group: Tumi and the Volume

Best Female Artist & Composer/Co-composer: Black Porcelain

Best Male Artist & Composer/Co-composer: Daniel Baron

Statistical Award: JB Arthur

Special Awards: Wawela Inaugural Recognition AwardsAlan Lazar

Mbongeni NgemaLebo M

Trevor Jones

THE 2013 WAWELAMUSIC AWARDS

WINNERS


Composers bask in well-deserved glory at the Wawela Music Awards

The enduring value of original music was celebrated

at the first-ever Wawela Music Awards, at which the shining lights

of South African songwriting were celebrated

On Friday, 28 June 2013, a constellation of the country’s music stars gathered at the Sandton Convention Centre to pay tribute to an elite group of music composers and authors whose work has made a significant impact locally and abroad.

Presented by Gareth Cliff and Azania Mosaka, the event aptly illustrated the power wielded by creators of original, home-grown music as guests were entertained by the eclectic sounds of The Soil, Phuzekhemisi and Koos Kombuis, with one of the highlights of the evening being an electrifying duet between Dorothy Masuku and Mafikizolo.

The isiZulu word wawela means “to go beyond”, and this SAMRO initiative was launched to give credit to local music creators who have achieved excellence in their craft across various platforms, including composing for film, radio and television.

The awards ceremony – the first of its kind in the country dedicated to honouring composers – saw the industry uniting to applaud the leading lights, trailblazers and unsung heroes of the South African music scene.


The Standard Awards were open to SAMRO members, who were required to submit entries accompanied by motivations online. The major winner on the night was Kgomotso Mashigo, also known as jazzy-pop songstress Black Porcelain, who walked off with two awards: for Best Creative Album and Best Female Artist and Composer.

She paid tribute on the night to sublime Lira, who she said inspired her to start singing. Lira, who was crowned Songwriter of the Year, drove home the true value of the original composition when she revealed: “Ten years ago, when I started my career and things were tough, I survived on my SAMRO money.”

Tumi and the Volume were named Best South African Duo or Group. The multi-talented, self-taught musician Daniel Baron took home the trophy for Best Male Artist and Composer – his first music award, he revealed, and SAMRO is confident that it will not be his last.

Other winners were celebrated composer Philip Miller, whose score for the film Leaving Father was voted Best Soundtrack in a Feature Film or Theatric Documentary, and former Via Afrika vocalist René Veldsman, whose music for the Shoprite advert was judged Best Song or Composition in a Radio Commercial.

Composer and sound designer Gregory Reveret took home the Wawela Award for Best Song or Composition in a Television Production, for Loxion Kulca Roots, while Jeramy James Barnard bagged top honours for Best Song or Composition in a Television Commercial for his work on the Bell’s advert.

The judging panel, comprising respected names drawn from the industry, also handed out a number of Special Awards on the night. Among these were five Inaugural Recognition Awards that honoured the immense contribution made by South Africans whose groundbreaking work has enriched the reputation of the South African music industry.

The five awards went to Los Angeles-based film and television score composer and production music library pioneer Alan Lazar, who famously composed the Vicky Sampson hit African

Dream; world-renowned writer, composer and producer Mbongeni Ngema, whose Sarafina! musical took Broadwayby storm; keyboard player, composer, producer, and studio and record label owner Sizwe Zako, who has taken local gospel music to dizzying heights; Golden Globe-nominated film music composer Trevor Jones, who went from District Six to the bright lights of Hollywood thanks to his twin passions for cinema and music; and Lebo M, the celebrated singer, songwriter, composer and musician whose music for The Lion King scooped a Grammy.

Jones also won the Breaking Through the Borders Award in the Special Awards section. Lazar confessed that “without SAMRO, I would not have had a career”, while Lebo M dedicated his award to the music legends who inspired him: Johnny Clegg, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse and Ray Phiri.In fact, Clegg, one of the country’s most beloved musical sons who has sown the seeds of South African music around the world while producing work of a consistently high calibre, was also honoured on the night – and received the Prolific Catalogue of Works Award.

JB Arthur, a South African Music Award- and Emmy Award-winning composer, musical arranger and producer, was rewarded for his international success with the Statistical Award for Broadcast and Live Performances.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to the evergreen Dorothy Masuku, a pioneering force in Southern African music who continues to perform, enchant and inspire.

Here’s to the 2014 Wawela Music Awards – and SAMRO members are urged to start thinking about their submissions now, so that they, too, have a chance to be honoured for their sterling achievements.

Visit www.wawelamusicawards.co.za for more information.


A man for all seasons – that’s SAMRO’s new CEO, Sipho Dlamini. Despite only being in his late 30s,he has already amassed an impressive groundingin multiple facets of the music business, from concert promoter and live event producer to record label business strategist and artist manager.

Now, as he steps into the shoes of his long-serving predecessor, Nicholas Motsatse, Dlamini is facing arguably his most challenging role yet: as captain of Africa’s largest royalty collecting society at a time when the world, and the entertainment industry, is in a shape-shifting state of flux.

But it’s a prospect he’s approaching with enthusiasm: “I’m confident and excited by the challenge,” he says. “Although I must say it is bittersweet, as Nick is a great leader who is very dynamic in his thinking, and is innovative and a marketing guru. The bitter part is him leaving; the sweet part is having been able to learn from his experience to help me to grow and gain the confidence to lead with my own vision.”

SAMRO’s new CEO

Meet SAMRO’sdynamic new CEO

Sipho Dlamini has the business smarts, vision and experience to help our music creators derive maximum value from their most precious assets – their songs

Smooth transitionDlamini started at SAMRO at the beginning of 2012 as the General Manager: Marketing and Business Development.When Motsatse gave the Board of Directors notice of his intention to step down in 2013, Dlamini was elevated toDeputy CEO on 1 January 2013 to enable a seamless andnatural transfer of power and knowledge.

“The way in which Nick and the Board have handled the transition [from one Chief Executive to another] is great –very systematic and organised,” says Dlamini. ““By the time I become CEO in July, we had been working on this for six months, making for a smooth and steady changeover. It’s been great succession planning and transfer of historic company knowledge, as well as knowledge of certain areas ofthe industry.”

It’s an industry with which he is already very well acquainted – both at local and international level. Schooled in the UK, Dlamini’s musical journey started when he and his partners at Back 2 the Future Productions discovered acclaimed English singer-songwriter Craig David.

From there, he never paused to look back, evolving into a concert promoter and being among the first to fly in South African artists to tour the UK after the end of apartheid in the 1990s, including TKZee, Boom Shaka, Brenda Fassie andArthur Mafokate.

Bringing business savvy to musicCritically, when Dlamini moved to South Africa in 1998 to manage TKZee and help grow their brand, it marked a turning point for the local industry in how to devise business models around performers’ brands. He has since gone on to chalk up several personal and professional milestones, both here and internationally, key among which was serving as co-event producer on the opening and closing ceremonies of the FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010.

All of these experiences, on both the creative and corporate sides of the music business coin, have served as valuable preparation for the journey he is embarking on now.

“In a very natural way, all those things have come together to prepare me for the role of CEO,” he reflects. “I’ve had first-hand experience of all the roles and environments our members experience, from the performing side to the signing, booking and developing of artists, the production and marketing of shows, as well as building their brands, showing them how to manage themselves as a business and dealing with the publishing and broadcast sides of things. It’s been a good grounding.”

Getting the basics rightWhen it comes to his vision, Dlamini is adamant that he is not about to start reinventing the SAMRO wheel. He has been absorbing the nature of the business from working closely with Motsatse and the management team, observing what is working while reflecting on what aspects could perhaps be done differently, with some tweaking here and there.

This includes ensuring that internal systems and processes roll out as efficiently as possible, so that distributions are accurate and run on time, and that service is faster and more accessible. SAMRO has already gone a long way towards streamlining its operations, thanks to the recently implemented business


At the end of June 2013, Motsatse handed the leadership baton to Sipho Dlamini, the former General Manager: Marketing and Business Development and, more recently, Deputy CEO.

It was a bittersweet farewell for the man who had largely been tasked with continuing the transformation of SAMRO started by his predecessor, Rob Hooijer, and bringing it firmly and emphatically into the 21st century. Bitter, because of all the friends, colleagues and associates he knew he would be leaving behind, and sweet, because it has long been a dream of his to open his own business.

“One of my goals,” he relates, “has always been to do something entrepreneurial before I turn 50. Last year when I turned 47, I started seriously thinking about it and, with time ticking, I made the decision [to resign as Chief Executive]. It wasn’t a sudden decision, but was made over time.

He has steered and steadied the SAMRO ship through waters both choppy and calm, but now Nick Motsatse is bidding a fond adieu

to the business he has played a key role in transforming

Farewell to an astute captain

“I knew there was the necessity to manage the transition and also that there were important projects in the pipeline that I didn’t want to leave in the middle of – such as the implementation of the new IT business system. Once it was on track, and the new Chairman [Abe Sibiya] was elected, it was a question of when and how – and of grooming a successor.”

Motsatse started working at SAMRO in 2002, as Marketing Director, before being promoted to Deputy Chief Executive and then to the hot seat itself four years later. Since then, he has distinguished himself and placed African music rights on the global map by serving two terms as the Vice-chair of CISAC’s Board of Directors as well as on its African committee’s exco – CISAC being the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, the global umbrella body of which SAMRO is a member.

systems upgrade and the introduction of the 24/7 Communication Hub, and Dlamini wants the organisation to continue along that path, further improving how it interacts with both music users and music creators.

“Getting our basic operations to function at optimal levels means that we will be able to drive costs down and have a better, more competitive cost-to-income ratio and thereby increase distributions,” he explains.

Considering that SAMRO’s mandate is to deliver and maximise income to its members, the coming year will see a renewed focus on updating music usage tariffs – some of which have not been revisited for a while – to ensure that licensees pay fees that are an accurate reflection of the music’s inherent value.

“There is no point trying to grow our business if tariffs are not priced correctly,” Dlamini points out. “It’s about recognising the true value of the asset – being the song or composition.”

What does SAMRO actually do?Furthermore, an important area of focus for Dlamini is to clarify to members what SAMRO’s mandate and scope is. “There are huge misperceptions about what SAMRO is responsible for.At times we are judged on things that are not within our ambit – such as how often their songs are played or performed, which affects their earnings – so we need to make it clear to our stakeholders what we do.”

But mainly, he will be continuing to work towards the existing five-year plan and vision that culminates in 2016, focusing on getting the basics right before venturing out into other areas. “We need to get the foundation right. We have a great foundation, but some tweaks and improvements may be called for. It’s like laying the concrete before you can start buildingthe bricks on top.”

A good manager, Dlamini believes, does not hog the limelight: “He or she is someone who gets results and makes the talent shine. My role is behind the scenes, working in the background to ensure composers get the glory and reward for the worksthey create.”

He is awed and excited about his new role as Chief Executive: “SAMRO has been fortunate to have a number of great leaders over the last 50 years… It is my goal to continue on the sterling and careful path that this business must continue on.

“I’m committed to ensuring that we offer more efficient and better service to our members and stakeholders, and provide services and products that directly cater to members’ needsand allow them to continue creating works of the soul.”

SAMRO’s new CEO

New CEO’s to-do list1. Work towards achieving his three key mandates: income, growth and preservation.2. Improve the efficiency of internal operations and processes.3. Continue to support anti-piracy initiatives.4. Leverage his existing close relationships with South African composers and musicians to remain closely attuned to industry needs and challenges.5. Iron out restrictions caused by SAMRO’s conversion to a not-for-profit organisation that was necessitated by the amended Companies Act. This includes lobbying government to ensure that members can continue to receive benefits such as the SAMRO Retirement Annuity Fund, the SAMRO Funeral Benefit Scheme and the annual Non-Royalty Revenue distribution.6. Clarify SAMRO’s mandate to members.7. Further strengthen ties with local and international stakeholders.8. Recognise the true value of the asset that composers and music authors create, and ensure they are equipped to extract maximum value from it.9. Continue to create a favourable environment for the creators of music to practise and benefit from their craft.

For the seven years he has been SAMRO CEO, Nick Motsatse has practically eaten, breathed and slept copyright administration. Having overseen great change and progress within the organisation, he believes the

time is now right to step down, spend some time with his family and strike out on his own in the business world.


Personal messagefrom new CEO Sipho Dlamini to Nick Motsatse:

From the SAMRO family, as we bid farewell so you can begin your new journey in business, we wish you the best and thank you for the hard work and sacrifice you have put into SAMRO over the past 10 years. Your leadership and vision in

growing the company, and the relationships and reputation that you’ve created for SAMRO in the international arena, stands as a true testament of your business acumen and ability – and for that we salute and thank you.

God bless you and your family.

Shaping a sustainable businessComing to the position with business and administration skills, he was tasked with building SAMRO into a corporate entity – something he has achieved with aplomb, but not without overcoming some hurdles along the way. “We’ve come through difficult times, including a recession. It’s been tough, but we’ve created and sustained a decent business to see us through the hard times. And members have gained throughout.”

Reflecting on his time at SAMRO, Motsatse says that while several things have changed over the past decade, others have remained reassuringly constant. “We’ve stuck to the values SAMRO has always espoused – concern for writers of music, and ensuring that they derive value and benefit out of whatwe do.

“At the same time, in terms of operations, the environment in which we operate, the way of doing business and the way in which music is consumed – that was rapidly changing, so we had to improve and change with the times as well. I think we’ve responded fairly well.”

The “old” way of doing things included the outdated SAMRO 4 business system from the 1980s, which was recently replaced with the sophisticated new Apollo 12S system with its enhanced capabilities. The organisation has also completed its evolution from a family-run enterprise with knowledge centralised in the minds of a few to a more corporatised entity with specialist areas and a more equitable spread of intellectual capital.

The fine art of transformationApart from helping transform the organisation, Motsatse has fulfilled his mandate of growing the business for the benefit of stakeholders – its members – and has succeeded in repositioning SAMRO within the music industry and thebroader business community.

“It had previously been seen as secretive and clandestine, and I think we’ve transformed it into a proper business entity. In many ways it’s now an organisation people can relate to – we’ve made great strides in making SAMRO more accessible, and a brand that’s a player in the social media space and plays a key role in the industry. But there’s still a lot to be done.”

Complicating matters is the constantly shifting operating landscape, with the trend towards the digital consumption of music moving the goalposts and reinventing the game. But Motsatse believes that SAMRO is keeping pace with developments, has a firm understanding of the evolving landscape and is preparing for a new era in collective administration.

“I really hope I’m leaving an organisation that will be around for another 50 years, despite the changes in the environment,” he says. “The future of collective administration will be very different in the years to come, and we’ve spent the last few years trying to get the organisation ready for that – so it can withstand the storm, but benefit and ultimately emerge a winner. Our planning and business strategy to prepare us for that future is very good, and hopefully SAMRO will emerge as a model for how things should be.”

The future is nowAmong the issues that will have to be confronted is the fact that music creators are becoming increasingly impatient with waiting for their royalties to filter through the collection and distribution system to them, particularly if they are able to track exactly how and when their music is being played via a cloud-based system.

“That future is coming very fast – putting control in the rights holder’s hands,” Motsatse predicts. “Our challenge as a rights management society will be how we add value to that.” He adds, with a grin, that he’s confident that SAMRO is ready to face such challenges head-on – and says he hopes to be around to celebrate the organisation’s centenary when he’s in his 90s!

“It’s been a privilege to be part of the music business. I’ve enjoyed it,” he reflects, a glimmer of nostalgia creeping through. “It was a privilege to meet and work with fantastic people, but it’s a chapter that’s now coming to an end. I’m looking forward to setting out on a very different path – a quieter lifestyle, spending more focused time with my family. But I will miss the people and the great relationships I’ve formed.”

No doubt Nick Motsatse will not be completely lost to the creative industries now that he steped out of SAMRO Place for the last time as CEO – he has two musically gifted daughters and an abiding affinity with the arts that will ensure he is never far from the fulcrum of South Africa’s creative fire.

• “We’ve built relationships that are useful and, in some cases, we’ve taken leadership on issues in the industry.”

• “By experimenting and moving people around, I’ve built a really great, transformed executive team in terms of race and gender – I think I can take credit for that. What we’ve done in the past seven years has been a team effort, and I’m proud of that.”

• “We’ve changed the image of SAMRO – from being a fairly okay business to being a recognisable business in the corporate sphere.”

• “Part of growing SAMRO into a corporate has been the administration of other rights [in addition to Performing Rights]. We have encountered some fundamental problems with Needletime and Mechanical Rights, but have persevered and there are important fundamental changes afoot. For example, we are in the process of setting up a company jointly with NORM (the National Organisation for the Reproduction Rights in Music in Southern Africa) to look after Mechanical Rights [see story elsewhere in this edition of SAMRO Notes.”]

• “We’ve had a mixed bag of successes regarding our government interactions, as attitudes towards copyright administration are changing and there are a lot of voices in the mix. But one area where we have been victorious has been in terms of the new Companies Act, with the introduction of exceptions to Schedule 1, which means that non-profits [SAMRO’s new corporate form] can distribute income. We lobbied to create that clause, and in the greater scheme of things I consider that our most important victory.”

• “With that and other legislation, such as the Protection of Traditional Knowledge Bill, we have been strengthening our voice as a lobbying force.”

• “The acquisition of SAMRO Place was controversial at the time, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I have no regrets – it was the right decision. When we moved into this building, we enabled employees to work and members to be served in a fairly modern and decent environment.”

• “A very personal highlight for me was the Builders’ Awards last year, as part of SAMRO’s 50th anniversary celebrations. It was a very fulfilling experience to honour people who had played a role in making SAMRO what it is today. I was sitting at the awards and thought: ‘I think I’m done.’ Looking back and acknowledging the history of the organisation, it felt like the completion of a cycle.”

Highlights of his tenure as CEO


Joe Niemand was still at school when he first applied for SAMRO membership – having written his first song at the incredibly young age of 11. But even when he did eventually become a member, in 2001, he could hardly have predicted he would be representing the interests of his fellow musicians on the Board of Directors one day.

Niemand, who hails from the Eastern Cape and studied music at the then Pretoria Technikon, was inducted as a new SAMRO Board member earlier this year. “I was so thrilled back when I was accepted as a member and now, to serve the industry on top of that, is very exciting,” he says.

“To find you have this gift, and then be able to join others in a society that promotes the value of compositions, is just awesome. I hope to serve SAMRO members well and help build a future for generations of composers to come.”

As the former frontman of South African Music Awards-nominated rock band Niemand, and as a solo artist with Afrikaans and African gospel albums to his credit, he is a seasoned singer, songwriter, producer, publisher and international performer whose powerful compositions are often rooted in his Christian faith. His work has been heard in almost 100 countries worldwide.

I also know that he will use the time to rest: his work ethicdrove him hard beyond the call of duty, and he needs this break.I would suggest the calming effect of fishing and golf, sir!

SAMRO has benefited from his years of service in many ways. He cultivated a deeply committed executive core as well as entire staff complement. He introduced global ideals in terms of a high work ethic. SAMRO’s steady revenues over the years have been noticeable and the company was governed firmly while giving many of the employees the opportunity to grow.

It cannot be easy to run SAMRO – I think the previous CEOs also had their own stories to tell about the sheer magnitude of this task. However, he leaves behind a strong legacy. While the world is changing fast, SAMRO has a membership in the region of12 000, and growing. This is one of his legacies.

It has created a name in South Africa and internationally as a strong, reliable copyright administration organisation in terms of its governance and its relationships with affiliates, and continues to seek more open ways to deal with members’ needs. There are a few initiatives that will no doubt be part of that legacy, such as Moshito, the Wawela Music Awards, the thriving SAMRO subsidiaries and a building that affords composers the dignity to meet in surroundings that show we take the business of composing and music rights seriously. On behalf of the Board, I would also like to congratulate Sipho Dlamini on succeedingMr Motsatse as CEO, and wish him well. This is not an easy task by any means, but my interactions with him have proved he is equal to the task.

To be a CEO of SAMRO, you have to have the personality mix of astute management and executive insight, and be a thinker and a negotiator. You require old-fashioned wisdom and graciousness, and to be adept at following what goes on in our political landscape and among the vast and diverse people of this great land without forgetting our painful past.

All I can say to Mr Dlamini is: “Strength to your arm, sir – your task is, indeed, great.” I wish him good health, since the strain and enormity of this responsibility can wreak havoc with a person’s physical well-being. I know he prays and he is young, so he will be all right.

As incoming CEO, he will have to balance building on SAMRO’s past wins, steering the organisation through change and giving assurance and comfort to the composers and members that they are in good hands.

Sound leadership, great insight and the ability to listen – and listen well – will stand him in good stead. The fact that SAMRO has a number of powerful international affiliates means that wise, out-of-the-box-thinking company is always at hand. While we do things in a way that fits our part of the world, Mr Dlamini will have to strike a balance between that and maintaining healthy relations. He is fortunately inheriting agreat team of committed executives and systems that work.

I have had a keen interest in ensuring we get to a point where our cost-to-income ratio is at a plausible level even in these economic times, but then I have included this as part of our deliverables and we are driving hard at achieving this goal. These things take time, but our new CEO will no doubt shinein his new role. I wish him well.

SAMROwelcomes

Joe Niemandto the Board

This prolific musician has already released eight albums – including five in the past four years – several of which have gone gold and platinum. Last year, Niemand co-produced, starred in and wrote the music for the theatre production Ester – The Musical at the State Theatre. He has also made a name composing the music for films such as Hansie, Faith Like Potatoes and international teen horror film Slash, as well as managing his own label, Nomansland.

In 2012, he celebrated a decade in professional music with a massive concert titled Night of Light, featuring a symphony orchestra and a 500-voice mass choir. It all adds up to an impressive CV for someone who is only 35 years old!

He says: “I aim to do whatever I can to help younger people break through, as there’s an incredible amount of talent in this country. I used to be that kid who had a bunch of songs and didn’t know what to do with them. If it wasn’t for an organisation like SAMRO, my road would have looked very different.”

He is also one to embrace the changing technological landscape rather than shy away from it: “The music industry needs to face the challenges that come with the digital revolution, and see them as opportunities rather than recoiling from them. We need to move with the times and not just against them. We have tofind solutions.”

This optimism also shines through in his approach to being a professional musician in South Africa. As someone who is involved with music on so many platforms, he advises fellow musicians to focus on their strengths, cast their nets wideand work hard – because there are opportunities out therefor the grasping.

He relates that in his experience, every musician who has stubbornly refused to give up has ultimately “made it” in some shape or form. “Younger musicians dream about making it big somewhere else. My advice is: try to make it where you are,and let the music be the focus. All too often, fame and money is the only goal. There is no such thing as instant fame that lasts.”

Niemand is a passionate believer in the power of the composer/songwriter, who is often left in the background while performers and recording artists receive the glory. “Without a song, there wouldn’t be a singer,” he says simply. “Music outlasts popular culture, and you’re left with composers. Singers pass away,but music endures.”

A bold exit,a strongentranceAbe Sibiya, Chairman of the SAMRO Board of Directors, bids farewell toNick Motsatse and welcomes new CEO Sipho Dlamini on board

As Nick Motsatse steps down as CEO to pursue

other interests, I wish him a pleasant time away

from the hustle and bustle and knowing him,

his family will come first. I do know that when

he decides to finally take on another challenge,

he will do so in sterling fashion.


Trevor Jones held the enthralled audience in the palm of his hand during the recent Music Exchange conference in Cape Town. His talk focused on encouraging young artists to be brave enough to pursue their passions and break into the international market – and he should know, as he did exactly that and is today a renowned film score composer and arranger with Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy nominations to his credit.

Born in Cape Town’s District Six in 1949, Jones has spent mostof his life abroad pursuing his studies and furthering his career. At the height of apartheid, he left Cape Town on a ship heading to London when he was 17 years old, and didn’t look back for many years.

He has since worked with several major figures in the music industry, including David Bowie, Sting, U2, Sinead O’Connor, Britney Spears and Elvis Costello. He has composed music for several films; most notable is his work on The Last of the Mohicans, In the Name of the Father, The Mighty, Mississippi Burning and Notting Hill.

When Jones left South Africa after studying music at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in his teens, it was on a scholarship (thanks to the generosity of UCT) to the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London. There, he studied composition, orchestration, conducting, piano and organ.He recalls fondly how he had to write an exam in the Cape Town City Hall in order to qualify for the scholarship and many,many years later, he came full circle when the same venue hosted the 2013 Music Exchange conference, at which hewas the keynote speaker.

Celebrated South African-born composer Trevor Jones, who was recently honoured at the inaugural Wawela Music Awards, shares his experiences and insightswith SAMRO Notes readers

“Hard work will earn you big breaks”He says: “Success comes in the form of hard work and big breaks. I found the harder I worked, the more breaks I got.”

Since his passport wasn’t viable in the UK, he was effectively stateless – and so couldn’t travel or get his passport renewed. He later worked for the BBC, reviewing music for four years, and in the process received British citizenship. Thereafter, he studied film at the University of York and general filmmaking at the National Film and Television School. Throughout the 1980s, Jones composed music for several films, but his highest acclaim came from his score for 1992’s The Last of the Mohicans.

Thanks to the degrees he had pursued, Jones had the advantage of a background in both music and film – giving him an incredible understanding of both image and sound. He says: “I always wanted to write film scores. I see myself more as a filmmaker who is working in music. The whole point of my job is to bring out the meaning of the film and try to understand exactly how the director is telling the story. It’s my perspective of his vision.”When asked how his love for cinema developed, he tells vivid anecdotes of how he used to sneak into an old movie house during the 1960s, becoming a regular fixture at the Gem Cinema in Woodstock.

Marrying music with images“I played truant for almost 15 months and nobody knew. I’d go to school in the morning, then sneak into the cinema and stay there all day. That’s where I learnt more about film than at any film school. The projectionist was always drunk. Sometimes the image would disappear and you’d be listening to the sound in the dark. The relationship between image and sound began to dawn on me then: realising the music and soundtrack is just as important as the image.”

Trevor Jones

Son of the soil comes

home to inspireConsidering that he has been away from South Africa for so long, it is always strange for Jones to visit the country, with memories of apartheid still fresh in his mind. He recalls: “In a country that I didn’t feel comfortable in, film for me was a window on the world. It raised my consciousness. It made me realise there was more to the world than what apartheid offered, so I took all of that in. Cinema was a big escape in a lot of ways – and the biggest teacher was the drunkard projectionist.”

Three of Jones’ children are involved in filmmaking and he says that although it is a challenge for any parent, he has tried to teach them by example. “I love working with the next generation of filmmakers. They’ve got such a great feel of things. It’s a different time and different era.”

Speaking of role models, he relates: “The reason why I did anything in this life is because of my mother. She worked at a clothing factory in Salt River and she’d give me 10 pence at the end of the week to go to the cinema on a Saturday. She knew I was obsessed with film. If she hadn’t made those sacrifices, I wouldn’t have been where I am. She was a phenomenal example.”

The sound alchemistEven after all these years of being in the film industry, Jones remains incredibly passionate about the work he does. Talking about his inspirations, he says: “What keeps me going is a passion and obsession with film and music. It’s like going to work in the morning, which is at a studio in my house, and being an alchemist with sound and image and watching something change form before your very eyes. To use rhythm as a heartbeat and play and mix – that, for me, is magic. To be able to do that is a pleasure.”

Jones continues: “Music is a direct emotional line to an audience. You sit in the cinema, it’s all dark and you’re almost on the verge of going to sleep [until you’re taken on a cinematic journey]. People pay me to be part of that process. How lucky am I to have that as a job! Just to be able to do this on a global scale and spread a universal language. I always wonder: why is it that just by instinct, a human being will respond to this image or sound in this way?”

‘Get an education’Jones’ inspiring story of success roots itself in education and the importance of mentors. His industry advice for those interested in going into film composing is: “Do not take shortcuts. It depends on what you want to do. If you want to work at an international level, you’ll need to be quite clued-up and knowas much as possible.

“When you come from the background I did, as a young coloured kid from District Six, the only thing that had value for me was my education. My teachers were formidable examples,” he says.

Recalling the many afternoons when he used to walk to the library in town, he points out: “Remember, it doesn’t always take money to learn. It just depends on how big you want to be. But nothing is impossible. We have loads of examples of brilliant South Africans doing brilliant things in the world. We have produced an extraordinary level of talent.”

Cape Town will always remain one of the most beautiful places in the world to Jones and will certainly always be home for him. He is currently completing finishing touches on a house here, with plans to relocate back imminently to the place of his birth.


Johnny Clegg is one of South Africa’s most celebrated sons.A singer, songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and musical activist, his infectious crossover music, a vibrant blend of Western pop and African Zulu rhythms, exploded onto the international scene and broke barriers in his own country. In France, he is fondly called Le Zulu Blanc – the white Zulu. Over three decades, Clegg has sold over five million albums worldwide. He has wowed vast audiences with his audacious live shows and won a number of national and international awards for his music and for his outspoken views on apartheid.

Born in England in 1953 to an English father and Zimbabwean mother, Clegg was raised in what was then Southern Rhodesia until the age of seven, when his mother married a South African journalist and moved to South Africa. Between his mother (a cabaret and jazz singer) and his stepfather (a crime reporter), who took him into the townships at an early age, he was exposed to a broad cultural perspective.

While lecturing in anthropology at Wits University in Johannesburg, Clegg decided to try and blend English lyrics and Western melodies with Zulu musical structures. South African producer Hilton Rosenthal signed Clegg and his performing and songwriting partner, Sipho Mchunu, to his independent record label. They called their band Juluka, which means “sweat” in isiZulu. At the time, their music was censored and their only access to an audience was through touring. This brought them into conflict with the Group Areas Act, but they played at universities, church halls, hostels and even in private homes. Many shows were closed down, but still they garnereda substantial following of students and migrant workers.

In 1979 their debut album, Universal Men, a musical journey into the life of Zulu migrant workers, was released. Two years later, the groundbreaking African Litany was greeted with critical acclaim, but was largely ignored by the SABC

A true African treasure, Dorothy Masuku is one of the continent’s most loved vocalists, performers and songwriters and has spent her life dedicated to her craft. This year, she celebrates 60 years in music. She was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in 1935, then called Southern Rhodesia. The fourth of seven children, Masuku’s mother was Zulu while her father was a Zambian hotel chef. Her family moved to South Africa when she was 12 due to her poor health.

By the time she was 16, she had become a top recording star and after running away from her Catholic boarding school several times to join bands like the African Ink Spots, she was permitted to leave school and pursue her singing career. She was attracted by American jazz and also the South African music scene. By the time Masuku was 19, she was already touring South Africa with singers she had admired as a girl. One day, during a train journey to Johannesburg, she composed the song Hamba Nontsokolo, which launched her career as a professional musician. It has since become regarded as a South African classic.

By the age of 20, she had already appeared on magazine covers and toured the country with a musical revue, in which Miriam Makeba also took part. Masuku became a top pin-up and glamour girl, and starred in Alf Herbert’s popular African Jazz and Variety show. Many of her performances were as a jazz soloist, accompanied by close-harmony groups and other 1950s big bands. By composing her own songs inspired by events in the townships, she provided insight into socio-political issues of township life. As result of this, she was forced to leave South Africa abruptly and go into exile.

The song Dr Malan, which references “difficult” apartheid laws, was banned in 1961, and she was advised not to return

Dorothy Masuku

until it was safe. Between that time and 1965, Masuku travelled to Malawi, Tanzania and London, performing and singing in support of the African cause. After returning to Zimbabwe, her life was threatened as a result of her political affiliations, and as it became too dangerous, she fled to Zambia. There, her musical career took a backseat and she worked as an air hostess, while raising a family. After 16 years in exile she returned to Zimbabwe in 1981, after independence. She started to sing professonally again and only returned to South Africa after Nelson Mandela’s release. Her exile lasted 31 years.

The songstress recorded Pata Pata in 1990. Two years later, she returned to her favourite city, Johannesburg, and released Magumede and, in 2001, Mzilikazi. That year she also participated in a special performance with Don Laka in London and 2002 saw her joining the Mahotella Queens on stage inNew York.

In 2013, Masuku’s Ultimate Collection CD and DVD was released. It includes tracks that she recorded on two albums in 2001 and 2003, demonstrating her remarkable, still-intact vocal skills and her composing ability – she was still writing fresh, new songs with that distinctive Dorothy Masuku touch.

The DVD derives from a marvellous 2010 concert where, even at age 74, Masuku proved that she is still the consummate vocalist, entertainer and performer, totally at ease with herself and the audience. Her many hits through the years include Hamba Nontsokolo, Into Yami (a 1950s standard), Khanyange(written while in exile in Zambia) and Mandela.

A SAMRO member since 1999, she currently lives in Johannesburg with her grandchildren and has recentlyreleased a new album.

A polished gem that still sparkles

JohnnyClegg

SAMRO congratulates Johnny Clegg, who was honoured at the WawelaMusic Awards for his prolific catalogue of works, and Dorothy Masuku,who was presented with a lifetime achievement award for herremarkable career in music

Special awardsfor South Africa’s extra-special music magicians

White Zulu and true-blue African

(South African Broadcasting Corporation) because of the mixing of languages. However, it developed a following through word of mouth and sold-out live shows. In 1982 and 1983, Juluka toured the USA, Canada, Germany and Scandinavia and in 1983, they released Work for All and, a year later, Musa Ukungilandela. In six years, the band recorded two platinum and five gold albums and became an international success. Juluka split up in 1985. Mchunu returned to cattle farming, while Clegg formed another crossover band, Savuka (which means “we have risen”). His concept was to mix African music with a wider music base and international rock sounds.

Third World Child (1987) broke all international sales records in France, Switzerland and Belgium. This was followed by Shadow Man (1988), Cruel, Crazy Beautiful World (1989) and Heat, Dust & Dreams (1993) and then the best-of album, In My African Dream (1994). Savuka toured extensively internationally, but disbanded in 1993. Three years later, Clegg and Mchunu re-teamed to record Ya Vuka Inkunzi (also released as Crocodile Love). Since then, Clegg’s solo projects, including New World Survivor (2002), A South African Story (2003) and One Life (2007) have all been resounding successes.

Clegg continues to play at festivals and tour locally and internationally. Songs like Impi (meaning “Zulu warriors”) and Great Heart have achieved anthem status in South Africa. Nelson Mandela has joined him on stage during Asimbonanga, a song about Madiba’s incarceration. Other notable hits include I Call Your Name, Scatterlings of Africa, African Sky Blue, Take My Heart Away, African Shadow Man, December African Rain, Kilimanjaro and Fever.

Clegg has won many local and international awards for his music, his record sales as well as his humanitarian work and his promotion of racial harmony. He lives in Johannesburg and has been a SAMRO member since 1985.


Mahola says: “It feels great to have been at the top of the US world music chart, especially knowing how much music is actually out there. The fact that people heard about us, checked out the music and loved it enough to buy it is a special thing – not least of all because it’s so hard to encourage people to buy music rather than get it by other means in this modern age.”

For bands wanting to break into the international market, Mahola advises: “Get a lot of hours in. Practice makes you really good at your craft and brings you closer to your real musical identity. Keep playing and believing in yourself and what you have to offer. Work your hardest to get to where you want to be; this will lead you further than you thought you could get!”

For a long time, the issue of the administration of Mechanical Rights has not been acceptable to many industry stakeholders. Until recently, both SAMRO (the Southern African Music Rights Organisation) and NORM (the National Organisation for the Reproduction Rights in Music in Southern Africa) shared this role, with SAMRO administering the rights of composers and NORM performing the role for music publishers. This arrangement has long over-complicated this area of rights administration, with neither party able to work effectively in the interests of Mechanical Rights and music users as a whole.

The idea for a single body to administer Mechanical Rights in South Africa emerged in 2009, when SAMRO and NORM began initial discussions around forming a single Mechanical Rights society. This initiative was given further impetus in 2011 when the Copyright Review Commission outlined the need for a single organisation to administer each rights type, i.e. a single Performing Rights organisation, a single Mechanical Rights organisation and a single Needletime Rights organisation.

Photo by Jonx

Freshly Groundtake the US charts by storm

The US iTunes world chart, which ranks the country’s top 10 most frequently downloaded online items, including songs, albums and bands of various music genres, listed the band’s latest album at number one. This is a massive feat for a South African group.

Freshly Ground toured the USA to promote the new album, and lead vocalist Zolani Mahola says: “Our years of performing live in the States and our more recent trip to the east coast of America contributed hugely to this milestone. Chiefly I think [this chart success happened] because the album really showcases who we are, which is a South African band that is very much globally musically aware.”

The album has been receiving incredible airplay in the US, and has been embraced by the country’s National Public Radio broadcaster in particular. This spells good news for the band when it comes to its Performing Rights royalties, which are collected in that country and distributed to the songwriters through SAMRO.

“SAMRO has signed reciprocal agreements with over 143 collecting societies from around the world,” explains Xolani Zulu, Mechanical Rights Accounts Executive at SAMRO. He explains that thanks to these agreements, SAMRO members have the benefit of receiving their international royalties via SAMRO, no matter wherein the world their music is consumed.

“These agreements are a vote of confidence in our ability to look after international music used in South Africa. It also gives our members peace of mind in the knowledge that their music can be commercially exploited in international markets with the same protection that is afforded to South African composers.”

He adds: “Music usage data from digital music providers like iTunes is analysed to compute streaming and download statistics used in royalty allocation and distribution.”

Freshly Ground’s collaboration with Shakira for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup helped to bring the band international attention, which they have now cemented with regular tours to foreign shores.

The new album is packed with the band’s signature elements of honest lyrics and Afro-pop guitar, including dance anthems such as the title song. The wildly diverse material offers catchy songs with layers of guitar, rich strings and multi-part harmonies.

Local Afro-fusion band Freshly Ground has to have scored a coup by topping theiTunes chart in the United States with their fifth studio album, Take Me to the Dance, in April.

SAMRO and NORM subsequently began the process of forming a new non-profit company to act as the single Mechanical Rights entity in South Africa. The formation of this new entity offers many benefits to both composers and publishers alike, but it also presents a number of legal and operational challenges for both SAMRO and NORM.

Bronwen Harty, Chief Operating Officer of SAMRO, is one of those responsible for overseeing the formation of the new company. She explains: “Constructing a deal of this nature is complex, as it involved taking two different business models to create a single entity. NORM was created by the publishers to suit the publishers’ needs, so it’s very specific to the publishers, while SAMRO’s model is more optimised for the composers.

“Our approach aimed to retain the best of each, taking the convenience and ease that the NORM model presents and combining it with the organisational maturity that the SAMRO organisation brings to the table. The choice to establish a non-profit company makes sense because the new company willonly be distributing royalties.”

SAMRO and NORM form new Mechanical Rights society

SAMRO and NORM have come together to establish a new,independent Mechanical Rights company, simplifying and strengthening

the administration of these rights in the music industry


Recently, NORM and SAMRO issuing joint licences for Mechanical Rights, which has already gone a long way towards making the licensing process a lot simpler for users.The next step is to create a new company, independent of the two organisations, which could perform this role.

Harty says: “We plan to get the new company up and running by the fourth quarter of 2013 and we’re working very hard to meet that deadline, when we hope to have the company registered and the new board of directors appointed. We have already begun the process of staff appointments and as soon as the details are finalised, it will be able to start functioning asan entity.”

The new company will be registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) and will become a member in good standing with BIEM (Bureau International des Sociétés gérant les Droits d’Enregistrement et de Reproduction Mécanique – the international umbrella organisation for Mechanical Rights administration organisations). Once it is a member of BIEM, it will be in a position to negotiate reciprocal agreements with the international Mechanical Rights bodies.

Harty says that SAMRO’s role in this process has been to ensure that composers’ rights are protected in the new company. “The most important issue for us during this process was to ensure that the rights of our composers were given equal weight in relation to the rights of publishers. SAMRO has 4 500 Mechanical Rights members to consider and while we support the moveto a single Mechanical Rights organisation, we naturallywant to ensure that the interests of our members areproperly represented.”

She points out that the formation of a single Mechanical Rights company to represent the interests of both composers and publishers is an important step forward for the industry. “Not only will it simplify the process of compliance for music users,” Harty explains, “it also places music creators in a much stronger negotiating position.

“In today’s world, where music proliferation via the internet is creating new challenges for the safeguarding of intellectual property, this single entity means the South African music industry will present a united front that will allow composersand music publishers to pursue their interests more effectively,” she says.

DALRO is making it easy for

licensees to comply with copyright

licensing requirements with an

innovative web-based automatic

licence-generating system, which

went online in January

which it emails out to people. If you think about it, in sending out these articles directly, the sender is depriving the website of web traffic that would [drive up its hit rate and consequently] add to its bottom line.” Because reproducing copyright-protected works is so easy on the web, there is a pressing need to make the process of issuing and paying for usage license just as easy. RightsPortal is an Australian browser-based licensing system that is being used for just this purpose. For DALRO, it made perfect sense to use this existing platform, which has enjoyed success internationally, adapting it for the South African market. The South African version of RightsPortal offers a convenient online system for efficiently purchasing, clearing and licensing the rights to reuse text material from newspapers. Further down the line, this will expand to include journals or books. The new system has been loaded on to many news websites, such as the

One of the major challenges facing DALRO, the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation, is the widespread lack of education and understanding about the rights of literary works, especially in the online space. The ease with which articles and literary works can be shared, copied and passed around on the internet means works can be reproduced unlawfully hundreds of times in just afew minutes.

Often, those who reproduce these works are not even aware that they are doing anything wrong. Yet at the same time, technology is making it easier for licensees to comply with copyright legislation, which is why DALRO has implemented an international web-based licensing platform for published material, launching www.rightsportal.co.zain January 2013. DALRO is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAMRO and is responsible for managing the rights associated with dramatic or artistic and literary works. Just as SAMRO works to protect musicians and composers, DALRO looks after the rights of authors, publishers, visual artists and writers. Unfortunately, while music copyright is a well-understood concept in general circles, DALRO’s sphereof influence does not enjoy the same level of appreciation. As such, DALRO is embarking on more education initiatives to make people aware of the facts when it comes to this type of licensing. These will highlight the need for users of this type of content to apply and pay for usage licences if they wish to use literary, artistic or dramatic works, much the same as they would if they were utilising music. DALRO also understands the need to make compliance as easy as possible, especially in this digital age. Sarah-Jane Bosch, Manager: Business Development at DALRO, explains some of the misconceptions surrounding the use of articles on the web. “If an article is hosted on a website, people assume that it is in the public domain and therefore can be copied,” comments Bosch.

“While it is true that it would be in the public domain, it’s not quite as simple as that. For example, it is acceptable to send the article’s URL to a friend, since they will then visit the website. However, consider something like a media monitoring agency that maintains a large bank of articles,

Mail & Guardian Online. It appears as a button at the foot of each news article, stating “login to clip”. Once clicked, it opens up a form, which prompts the user to fill in their details and the type of use they require. The system then automatically generates a licence and directs the user to their preferred payment method.

While this user-friendly service is available on most news portals, there is still work to be done to make users aware of it. “DALRO will be conducting advertising campaigns on these websites to point people to the service,” explains Bosch.“We need to let people know that this is available and whyit’s important to use it.” Simple, quick, friendly: RightsPortal SA makes it just as easy to comply with copyright law as it is to share the great content that is out there. Visit www.rightsportal.co.za and learn more about South Africa’s first web-based rights portal for dramatic and literary works.

DALRO launches

web-based licensing system

Photo courtesy

of DALRO


SAMRO Notes catches up with

Advocate Nathi Gaisa, DALRO’s

new Managing Director, to find out

more about how the organisation

plans to keep pace with the rapidly

evolving environment of artistic

and literary copyright protection

1. Congratulations on your recent appointment as DALRO Managing Director. Could you briefly outline what this position entails and how long you have been associated with DALRO?

Thank you very much; I am humbled by the appointment.The position I now occupy requires that I provide leadershipand guidance, at a strategic level, to this dynamic and innovative copyright asset management company. The position is a challenging role in a complex and yet exciting environment wherein, while working closely with the highly skilled Board and energetic and innovative staff, I am responsible for shaping a vision and future success of the company to enable it to continue to grow and prosper. I assumed my current position in the middle of February 2013 and it has been an exciting few months that have seen me on a steep and exciting learning curve.

2. Having practised law and having also been involved in communications, how will these capabilities assist you in your task at the helm of DALRO?

In my capacity as an advocate of the High Court, having practised for a number of years as a member of both the Port Elizabeth Bar as well as the Johannesburg Bar, I have the benefit of the practical and legal knowledge and understanding around the complexities of law. This is critical in my role, as the core principle of what DALRO does – royalty collection and distribution – is based on the principles of intellectual property law and, more specifically, the Copyright Act (No. 98 of 1978).

In royalty collection and distribution, communication is key. DALRO exists to maximise the assets rights holders entrust to us. Perception is reality. I hope that my communications background will enable me to leverage experience and relationships to drive the DALRO brand and ensure that key and relevant messages are delivered about the value that copyright, collective licensing and the pivotal role that DALRO plays in these areas.

6. Much has been said about technology compromising copyright protection. Do you believe the digital sphere can, in fact, be used to the benefit and advantage of rights holders by (for example) making creative property more accessible?

Once it is established that the internet doesn’t abolish copyright protection, then yes, certainly. I don’t believe that rights holders have a choice but to make their content available online, at a cost where applicable. The user must be given a way to comply with copyright laws while using the internet; for example, DALRO licences cover the copying of digital content. There would always have been the people who photocopied textbooks and there will always be people who steal digital content, but weare in a position to ensure that the majority of users find it easyto comply.

7. Could you provide updates on the progress of a) the licensing of news clipping services; b) the EduPortal; c) the expansion of DALRO’s visual arts footprint?

The media monitoring licence has progressed significantly, with a number of MMOs on board. The next step here is to licence the downstreaming activity for the clients of the MMOs.

The DALRO EduPortal is being piloted in two schools in Johannesburg, Reddam Bedfordview and Greenside High, for the duration of 2013. The pilot projects have been a success thus far, with invaluable feedback that will enable us to refine and perfect the final offering when we roll out to schools.

Our visual arts footprint is rapidly expanding. We currently have mandates from 18 prominent visual artists and the team is always working to increase this and the collection around the use of the works.

8. What are your aims and vision for DALRO during your tenure as MD?

To ensure that DALRO retains the reputation it holds, both locally and within our international network, for being a forward-thinking organisation. We are further ahead than many of our international counterparts in terms of product development, and I aim to keep us there. Growth is a key mission for me. The company is capable of great things and I plan to “shake it up” a lot to make sure it is flexible and ready to deal with change in our rapidly evolving environment. We cannot go about business as usual and my vision is to have a highly-skilled team that drives a company focused on efficiently delivering as much as we can, and more, to our rights holders.

9. DALRO seems to have a very tight-knit and committed team working there. Could you expand on the importance of the relationships they build with authors, artists, publishers, licensees, etc?

I definitely inherited a great team! Everyone is committed to ensuring the best results for rights holders through their various positions in the company. Critical to this is, of course, the relationships they build with the various stakeholders, rights holders, licensees and even suppliers. The team works at building relationships that will enable the most efficient workflow processes and that, along with this, will garner the support of the people in the industry – those we collect from and those we distribute to. Both the team and the people with whom they have relationships are staunch advocates of copyright and the role DALRO plays in appreciating and gaining value from copyright.

3. What, in your opinion, are the biggest issues or challenges facing DALRO and its members today?

I am of the view that the general lack of knowledge in respect of issues around copyright is a significant challenge. What I now realise is that people (both the general public and the creators of the works that are the subject of copyright) are simply not aware that copyright compliance applies to them. For example, if an employee in a marketing department of a company sends out a copyrighted article to the executive team or executive management, that copying and distribution requires a licence obtainable from DALRO. Another example is that the creators of the works that are protected by copyright are not aware that their works are protected by a copyright. DALRO’s work in the education and theatre sectors has ensured that the users are licensed, but outside of that, there is a general ignorance about copyright and all the obligations imposed on a user of copyrighted works. This situation has been exacerbated by the usage of the internet, as users believe that copyright simplydoes not apply to the content found online – a complete myth,of course! DALRO aims to address this lack of knowledge through education on copyright and copyright compliance.

4. How can society in general be persuaded to value copyright more highly – or is that like fighting a losing battle?

It is interesting that, when I talk to people and ask how they would feel if their work was stolen, it becomes a lot clearer. Obviously we can’t talk to everyone, though, and have to find other ways of showing the value of copyright, such as the number of jobs the publishing industry creates, the rights of authors and playwrights who have poured their hearts into creating a work to receive royalties – and the alternative in terms of poor-quality educational material that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Basically, we have to place a tangible value on copyright for users to understand that it “costs” something.

5. Are there any new DALRO initiatives in the pipeline to maximise the value of creative assets on behalf of authors and publishers?

DALRO is in a very exciting growth phase and we have many new projects happening. You have mentioned RightsPortal SA elsewhere in the magazine, the groundbreaking online licensing portal that allows users to get a quote, pay online and receive their licence to reproduce local newspaper content. We also have the DALRO EduPortal that will provide online subscription access to school textbooks across all grades and subjects on any device. We are moving into new licensing sectors such as business licensing and other education sectors, and have been very successful in signing a number of significant media monitoring organisations (MMOs) on to our media monitoring licence. These initiatives will ensure that our rights holders will receive due compensation in areas where they previously were unlikely to.

A new reporting system for university licensees is in the pipeline, which will make compliance that much easier and will streamline our own internal processes. Increased engagement with licensee institutions has been a key focus for me, and the reprographics team has done an excellent job of facilitating workshops and interactive sessions for us to address the concerns of our licensees.

If we make things simpler for the user to comply with, our rights holders will most certainly benefit.

Photo courtesy of DALRO

Introducing

a true man of letters


The SAMRO Foundation is living up to its vision of investing in the value of music through its various activities. This includes providing much-needed music education funding through a range of scholarship and bursary awards, as well as staging live music events like the popular Cape Town and Gauteng Big Band Jazz Festivals.

The SAMRO Archive continues to grow, supporting a numberof projects that meet the industry’s needs in an exciting way.The recently established Stakeholder Hub has alreadyfacilitated some innovative partnering with fellow musicand arts organisations.

Music education projectsWith a roots-up ethos, the SAMRO Foundation has spread its support across all genres and generations in music education.

Gathering the finest music talent at junior level, this year’s Hubert van der Spuy National Competition celebrates 25 years of music excellence. Professor Hubert van der Spuy and the South African Society of Music Teachers launched the first competition in 1989 and SAMRO became the principal sponsor of the event three years ago.

This year, candidates will compete in four categories: piano, strings, woodwind and brass instruments, and other instruments. The final round will take place at the Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium in Parow, Cape Town, from 16 to 18 September 2013.

In 2013, the SAMRO Foundation awarded R1.22 million in music study bursaries to students at 11 South African universities. That represents a total of 122 undergraduate and postgraduate bursaries, covering various categories of music study such as music education, music performance study, indigenous African music research, music technology, music composition and community music study.

The 2013 SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition will see South Africa’s most talented keyboard players competing at the gala event on 31 August 2013. There, they will let their passion pour into their fingers, in the hope of bagging one of the twoR170 000 scholarships for international study in the WesternArt Music and Jazz/Popular Music categories.

It’s a double dose of jazz for the SAMRO Foundation as it gets into the swing with its two Big Band Jazz Festivals. The first, the Cape Town Big Band Jazz Festival, was held in Cape Town at the end of May. Following its successful inaugural event at St Mary’s School for Girls in Waverley last year, the Gauteng Big Band Jazz Festival takes place from 16 to 18 September 2013.

SAMRO ArchiveWith its growing collection of music scores, CDs, paintings, photos and instruments, the SAMRO Archive continues to fulfill its mandate of protecting, preserving and promoting Southern Africa’s rich musical heritage. With the launch of the online archive database due to take place later this year, this

heritage will become a firm part of the growing digital space and accessible to a much wider audience.

The SAMRO Archive recently published the third volume of the ever-popular South Africa Sings. This growing collectionof indigenous African choral music, which uses dual notation (staff and tonic sol-fa) for greater accessibility, has become a firm favourite in the repertoire of many of South Africa’s choirs.

This year, the SAMRO Archive will be reaching out to South Africa’s young musicians with its newest publication, SAMRO Scores for Young Players. For this series, SAMRO has commissioned more than 20 composers to compose over 30 new works, on various instruments. The first two books, Violin and Piano and Guitar and Piano, will be published during 2013.

Researchers visiting the SAMRO Archive will have access to a well-appointed and accessible reading room that will ensure comfort as well as peace and quiet during their visit.

Mentorship programmeIn a response to the need for more significant South African-composed orchestral works, the SAMRO Foundation has launched its first orchestral mentorship programme. This year, eight young, emerging composers from across South Africa are being mentored by established composers in the art and discipline of writing work for orchestras or symphonic bands. Prof Peter Klatzow has been paired with Amy Crankshaw and Andrew Hoole, Noel Stockton with Andrew-John Betheke and Mandla Mlangeni, Prof Stefans Grové with Bernette Mulungo and Evans Netshivhambe, Dr Rexleigh Bunyard with Jessica da Silva, and Allan Stephenson with Laura Stevens.

Stakeholder HubThe Stakeholder Hub was developed as a specialised support unit for emerging and established arts organisations, assisting with seminars and workshops, technical and organisational development support, administrative and secretariat support, facilities and equipment, company registration, governance and, in some cases, seed funding.

The Stakeholder Hub works in three spaces: internal partnerships, external partnership and international partnerships.

Internally, the Stakeholder Hub has partnered with the Composers’ Association of South Africa (CASA), the Music

A year of plentyfor the SAMRO Foundation

Now in its second year, the SAMRO Foundation has seen considerable growth and change in its corridors. Its Board – with its vibrant mix of diversity, talent and energy – has comfortably settled into its role, bringing what was the SAMRO Endowment of the past into a more revelant, focused present

Managers Forum of South Africa (MMFSA), the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) and the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa (ANFASA). During 2013, the hub facilitated various workshops for these organisations, including a workshop on music composers’ contracts for CASA and a corporate governance master class.

The hub’s external partnerships have already resulted in a number of critical industry events, including a public forum regarding the state of arts funding convened by the Arterial Network and BASA.

On the international front, the Stakeholder Hub has been involved in some exciting projects in partnership with the British Council and CASA África. Together, the SAMRO Foundation and the British Council have established the South African International Music Mobility Fund. Grants have been made available for professional South African musicians andindustry stakeholders to build links with artists, organisations and professionals in other Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) countries and the United Kingdom.

In a bid to promote South Africa’s diversity of talent and musical styles on Spanish stages, the SAMRO Foundation and Casa África, with the support of the Spanish Embassy in South Africa, hosted the Johannesburg Vis-à-Vis initiative, the first music contest and business meeting between Spanish music producers and South African musicians.

From the 89 groups that entered the “battle of the bands” competition, 12 were selected to perform live at the contest.The prize, an opportunity to tour prestigious Spanish festivals like Pirineos Sur, La Mar de Musicas and Mumes Tenerife in July and August, was won by Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness (BCUC), a five-piece that integrates indigenous African rhythms with funk and soul, and Touchwood, a four-piece outfit that makes use of instruments including cello, ukulele, violinand marimba.

The Spanish judges came away from the competition impressed by the diversity and professionalism of all the bands entered,and excited by the potential of the South African music scene.

As the SAMRO Foundation’s support continues to grow and encompass all genres of South African music, so too does the very tangible sense of commitment, enthusiasm and energy that pervades SAMRO’s hard-working music education and corporate social investment arm.

Pictured, from top left: Mandla Mlangeni and Laura Stevens, who are part of the SAMRO Foundation’s mentorship

programme; Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness and Touchwood won the Spanish-South African “battle of the

bands” contest; and composers turned out in their numbers for the CASA workshop in March.

Photos courtesy of the SAMRO Foundation and Suzy Bernstein


Technology knows no borders. Take IT and infuse it with music… you are guaranteed a lifestyle so big, it created the Gangnam Style and, more recently, the Harlem Shake phenomena.

But this is a new era. Long gone are the days when the music industry was paralysed with fear at the mention of Napster and other illegal F2P (free-to-play) sites. Times are changing. Megaupload and other Napster mutants are being shut down, fighting court cases or running for cover. File-sharing website The Pirate Bay was even rumoured to have run to seek asylum in North Korea.

The music industry fortunately has legal and copyright systems in its corner of the ring. Last year, the UK High Court ruled that internet service providersmust censor the Pirate Bay. Search engines likewww.google.co.uk are finally joining the fightagainst piracy by, for example, down-ranking sites such as The Pirate Bay in their search results.

As a result, the music industry continues to ride the technology wave across cultures, classes and income levels. Music consumption is higher than ever. The momentum is driven by consumer demand, according

to the recent Digital Music Report 2013, published by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

According to the report, technology in the form of digitalmusic piracy is the greatest single enemy of the music industry. Again using the example of the two Koreas, in 2012 the technology-savvy South Korea had 82.7% internet penetration. Is it a coincidence, then, that in 2012 the same country took the world by storm, musically and technologically speaking, by introducing Psy’s Gangnam Style, the world’s first online music video to achieve one billion views on YouTube? Without digital music’s vast reach, it would take an estimated 8 017 yearsor 119 generations to achieve such a feat!

Psy had released six albums in South Korea before Gangnam Style took the world by storm in July 2012. The track’s record-breaking online popularity on streaming sites started after Robbie Williams challenged followers of his blog to “TRY WATCHING THIS AND NOT SMILING,I DARE YOU… (NOT EVEN A LIP CURL)”. He then posted a YouTube link of the song. Well, as they say, the rest is history, and Psy has a Guinness World Record certificate and a healthy bank account balance forhis trouble.

For Psy, then, technology proved to be a valuable friend and ally in getting his music heard on a global scale. In marketing circles, they call it “conversion” when threats or risks are turned into opportunities. Streaming is one of the tools being successfully

The times they are a-changin’… and nowhere more rapidly than in the music industry. SAMRO’s Xolani Zulu, Accounts Executive for Mechanical Rights, believes that the digital revolution presents music creators with more opportunities than threats

Photos of Xolani Zulu from SAMRO

Should musiciansfear or embrace

technology?

used by the music industry to turn the threat of technology into revenue-generating opportunities.

Music streaming is as good for consumers as it is for music creators and for the industry as a whole. In Sweden, for example, sales of recorded music – which had long been stagnant or in decline – grew by almost 14% in 2012, andby 7% in Norway. This growth can be directly attributed to positive developments in the licensing and regulation ofmusic streaming services.

Video streaming is the most popular form of streaming. On YouTube, for example, 90% of the most popular videos are music-related. The channel’s 800 million-plus viewers have diverse tastes and cultures, but the discovery element helpsthe service to meet these varied musical needs.

Satisfaction with legal digital music services, includinginternet radio, sits at 77% globally. This is a compellingcustomer satisfaction rating, achieved by what manythought was a failing industry.

Audio or video streaming can take many forms. Webcasts, podcasts and on-demand streaming are just some of the better-known music streaming services available. Each of these – and other related uses – is licensed by SAMRO.

Contact Xolani Zulu at [email protected] for more information on online music licensing and royalties. The IFPI report is available for download at www.ifpi.org


To contact the Academy of Sound Engineering to enquire about its Music Business Masterclass course, with lectures presented by Nick Matzukis, email [email protected] or visit www.ase.co.za

These contracts can vary hugely – either the publisher “owns” the copyrights assigned to him in perpetuity or he effectively “rents” them for a particular period only, as a licensing deal. The latter option is, of course, preferable from the composer’s perspective since it keeps his/her future options open, but thisis often not what publishers want.

The copyrights that are subject to the agreement also vary hugely. They can range from a “single song assignment” to total transfer of everything the writer will write (and, perhaps, has written). Generally speaking, in the full publishing agreement, the publisher will want exclusive control over the writer’sentire output.

The publisher’s duty is to administer and exploit the copyrights on behalf of the writer to create as much royalty income as possible. In order to do this, the publisher will require the writer to assign his or her copyrights to the publisher.

It’s a lot to be signing away, isn’t it? So when a writer is contemplating entering into a publishing agreement, he or she should want to know the answers to many questions about the contract, including this one: Why do I need a publisher? Some songwriters show resistance to ever signing a publishing agreement. Instead, they want to “publish themselves” (so-called “self-administration”) by joining the collection societies, including SAMRO, directly, without any publisher involvement. By doing so, the writer cuts out the “middleman” (the publisher) and therefore enjoys the potential to earn higher royalties (at least in termof percentage). While this argument does, indeed, hold water for established songwriters, it cannot be denied that a young composer, new to the scene, generally does need the help of a publisher to make his or her mark.

The low-down on

publishing agreements In part two of his series on the role of the music publisher, Nick Matzukis, Executive Director of the Academy of Sound Engineering, explains to SAMRO Notes readers the ins and outs of those all-important contracts

In its most basic form,

a publishing agreement

is a copyright transfer

contract. In the agreement,

the publisher is assigned

certain designated

copyrights or categories

of copyrights (for example,

everything written by the

writer) for a particular

period or in perpetuity (for

the life of the copyright).

1 Publishers often invest in the writer’s career. In particular, publishers may be a supply of vital funding for an emerging composer. But, like record labels, publishers will recoup any advances paid to the writer from his or her royalties. In general, publishers will put their own money at risk in this way, albeit with some form of return on their investment if – and only if – the writer is successful. Most publishing agreements with new composers these days do not provide for advances.

2 Publishers should try to nurture and develop the writer’s talent. Not all publishers take this “creative” role, but the better ones do.

3 Above all, publishers should be “connected” in the industry. They should know the A&R (artists and repertoire) departments at all major and independent labels, they should be alert as to which film producers and broadcasters require music soundtracks and they should also be in a position to link the songwriter to industry players in other ways. Their most important function, therefore, is to know what music is required, and where, in the industry, and have their composers’ music used there.

4 Naturally, it is in the publisher’s interests that the writer’s music appears on recordings (the biggest source of Mechanical Rights royalties). Importantly, therefore, the publisher will help the writer to secure a recording contract if he/she does not have one, and may even arrange the release of some independent records on the writer’s behalf.

5 In some cases, publishers may make money available for tour support, equipment, demos, independent promotion or marketing.

6 Publishers will collect the writer’s earnings and royalties and help negotiate fees for licensing rights in the songs.

7 Publishers should, as an ongoing daily practice, be “song-plugging” – encouraging the exploitation of the writer’s songs, including cover recordings, synchronisation, public performance and use on compilations.

8 Publishers should handle the tracking, administration, calculation and recovery of royalties payable. This is while remembering that SAMRO will pay the publisher his or her share and the writer his or her share directly, after the publishing agreement has been registered with SAMRO. This is to ensure that any unscrupulous publisher does not deprive the composer of his or her share.

Nick Matzukis

Photo by Suzy Bernstein

In general, a publisher who has made an investment in the writer (by paying possibly significant advances) will want to recoup his investment by encouraging the maximum use of the songs. Clearly, the publisher has a vested interest in ensuring that the writer is successful, because only then will the publisher earn money from the writer’s songs, by way of his or her percentage of the mechanical, performance and synchronisation royalties.

It is vital, when negotiating a publishing contract, to have the future in mind. Some composers are happy to be signed to a publisher for the rest of their days, but many reach a point of success in their careers where they simply do not need the publisher any more. This is because they are sufficiently well known to open doors for their music themselves, they understand the business well enough to handle their own royalty collection, and they require no further creative input.

Many successful composers have left their publishers at the end of their contract cycle and opened their own publishing houses, simply because it makes financial sense to do so. Such composers might, at this juncture in their careers, be sorry that they have signed their previous compositions away in perpetuity, because they can never get those copyrights back unless they buy them.

For a young composer, it would be better to assign the copyrights for a limited rights period only. Regardless, the publisher’s role in getting such composers to a point of independence and success should not be discounted.

Eight reasons why you might wish to enter into a publishing agreement:


When Pfanani Lishivha took over the role of Executive General Manager for Rights Holder Services, he set a lofty goal for his tenure: not only does he want happy customers, but when it comes to service and customer care, he wants SAMROto be counted among the top companies

Proof of copyright

One of the very first steps Lishivha took was to do away with the SAMRO requirement that all notifications made by members and applicants had to be accompanied by proof of copyright in some form. This requirement was scrapped from 1 April 2013.

“This was not an April fools’ joke,” laughs Lishivha, before adding, more seriously: “Like all international music rights organisations throughout the world, we would prefer to relyon honesty. The proof of copyright has never been used tosettle claim disputes; it is a cumbersome requirement thatis unnecessary.”

With proof of copyright no longer necessary, the notificationof works has become easier for musicians.

Ensuring that the SAMRO

customer is kingUndocumented works

“We are going out of our way to follow up with members and non-members to make sure that any undocumented work is now properly notified,” says Lishivha, speaking about another important development in the division.

He explains that works are often recorded by broadcasting licensees as having been played, but if these works have not been notified with SAMRO by the author/composer of the musical work, royalties accrued cannot be paid until themusical works have been linked to the author/composerthrough notification.

By tracing works in this way the division has, since March 2013, been able to ensure that members get paid royalties for all their works that are being performed publicly. This process has also been beneficial to SAMRO in educating non-members about the benefits of joining the organisation and notifying their works.

Although this process only began recently, Lishivha is happy with the positive feedback they have received from members and non-members alike.

Customer care

With his vision of achieving excellent customer care and customer service, Lishivha is ensuring that the very basics are being met. Personnel in both Rights Holder Services and POSA have been retrained to be as flexible as possible and are able to assist clients in either department.

When joining SAMRO or notifying works, members are now personally assisted by a consultant. Member information is checked for accuracy, new data is captured directly onto the system and any questions from the member can be addressed immediately. To further reduce waiting periods, all walk-in clients’ documentation is initially checked to confirm that all is in order. This eliminates any unnecessary time wastage where a member/applicant may have been told, after waiting to be assisted, that certain documents were missing and the process could not be completed.

“All these measures will not only speed up the process of joining and notifying works, but will also reduce the confusion that incorrectly captured data can cause when tracking royalties,” says Lishivha.

Future outlook

When it comes to service, it is all about forging good, strong relationships and building on existing relationships with clients. Composers and publishers are central to the improvements that Lishivha has made and envisages for the future.

He is looking forward to the roll-out of SAMRO’s online portal to all members. He believes that this will further assist members in regularly notifying their works. It is hoped that once the portal is fully operational, the option of self-help service centres will also be available.

Lishivha is also in the process of establishing SAMRO contact centres around South Africa. Working in partnership with musicians in the various provinces, SAMRO has already been able to establish the first basic contact centres in Limpopo (Thohoyandou), KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) and the Eastern Cape. In the future, it is hoped that these centres will be internet self-service hubs where members can log their information without the hassle of sending documents via “snail mail”.

With Lishivha at the helm, Rights Holder Services and POSA are on the move, with invigorated staff, happy members and exciting developments on the horizon.

Already the Executive General Manager for the Performers’ Organisation of

South Africa (POSA) Trust, Lishivha will run the two divisions concurrently.

Although he has only been in this joint position since March this year, he has

already started implementing changes and strategies that will take SAMRO

forward with tangible benefits for members.


The time has come for Africa to build a music industry infrastructure that is on par with the continent’s amazing creativity. And the time is right, because never before have we had the correct tools to allow for the true empowerment of Africa’s music scene.

Let’s put things in a global context. In the last 15 years themusic industry has gone through its most drastic changes,with its recorded music revenues declining from $42 billion to$17 billion in 2013. Africa always represented a very small share of this market as the continent suffered from endemic piracy and severe economic constraints.

However, the creativity of African artists has never been in doubt. In each and every country that I have visited in the past 10 years, I have been impressed by the quality of the local music scene. Over the years, many African artists have become international stars. From Miriam Makeba – the one and only Mama Africa – to Angeliqué Kidjo, Youssou N’Dour, Ali Farka Touré, Tinariwen and Manu Dibango, the continent has beena colossal creative force to be reckoned with.

But rarely have local infrastructures followed the path of these creative trailblazers. Major record companies, like EMI and PolyGram (now Universal), were actively present in markets such as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ivory Coast, but the rest of the continent had little to no infrastructure to record, produce and distribute music.

Even if sales were good and generated significant revenues, the potential for African artists was rather limited. Most of the aforementioned artists found fame and wealth by becoming expatriates. They registered their works with Western authors’ societies, since they had little faith in the local ones to really defend their rights.

New digital infrastructuresOver the past decade or so, I have been actively involved in developing new business models to help generate new revenue streams for artists and record labels. I was head of digital at Universal Music Group International, launched mp3.com in Europe, and was head of business development in the UKfor Sony BMG.

Time for the

digital empowerment of Africa’s talent

However, it was in 2003, when invited by MTN Nigeria to Lagos, that I realised the potential of the new African music business. A couple of years later, I relocated to Cape Town with my family to become part of that new revolution, working with artists, producers, telecoms companies and advertising agencies across the continent.

In the last couple of years, I have seen a real change in the African music landscape. Telecoms companies are now generating millions of dollars in revenues from the use of music (mostly through ringback tones or caller tunes) and major record labels are looking at the opportunities on the continent while new digital stores are now popping up.

Music is the number-one form of entertainment in Africa. It has been for decades, but unfortunately for the industry it has been a challenging environment in which to grow a healthy recording/publishing business due to piracy and lack of intellectual property protection.

While the rest of the world is still looking at ways of stopping the decline in sales and working out how to grow its digital business, in Africa the new digital ecosystem is providing the backbone to help us develop a new music business.

With Africa’s fast-growing population, set to reach twobillion people by 2040, half of which will be under age 25, the emergence of a new middle class, and – most importantly – the access to digital infrastructures, content owners (music, film, books) can’t afford not to do business here. There are also societies like SAMRO in South Africa that have become a model for the rest of Africa in terms of management and in seizing the new digital opportunities and licensing new digital platforms.

Today, various legitimate digital platforms have been launched, offering African consumers access to ringback tones, ringtones and download stores on mobile or web, as well as streaming services such as Deezer, simfy, Spinlet, Waabeh and Iroko.

Africa is now the second most connected continent in termsof mobile handsets, with over 700 million devices, up from240 million in 2008. Most of the handsets (85%) are feature phones, however, the smartphone segment is growing yearon year and currently amounts to 100 million. With the launchof new, cheaper smartphones (retailing at $60), we should see this trend growing.

What a change in just 10 years! And it affects not just infrastructure but also the people behind the music.

A change in the music landscapeIn the last few years, I have noticed and experienced a real transformation of the music scene in Africa with the emergence of a new wave of local producers who are not afraid to invest into great local talent. Today, local music represents close to 70% of the music consumed on the continent. This trend is growing as not only are African consumers enjoying music from their own country, they are also embracing talents from neighbouring markets. Artists from Africa are collaborating on new songs, sharing stages and featuring in each other’s videos.

Artists, producers and independent labels can now have the opportunity to be in control of their own destiny. They are:- producing singles and albums locally instead of having to travel to London, Paris or Johannesburg;- shooting music videos of international standard on small budgets;- reaching and interacting directly with their audience locally and internationally via the web or mobile; and- getting their music distributed digitally to hundreds of stores in Africa and internationally through music aggregators like Africori, the digital platform that I have been developing.

With a landscape that is rapidly changing, the African music industry can have access to tools and platforms to help digitise, ingest, report and distribute the music to tens, if not hundreds, of stores. We have an opportunity to develop a vibrant music business in Africa by making our music available digitally in a professional manner and by creating a healthy and transparent digital ecosystem.

The music business in Africa is happening now – and its future looks more promising than ever.

Digital music entrepreneur Yoel Kenan predicts a bright, connected future for the continent’s musicians

Yoel Kenan

Photo courtesy of Music Exchange and Andrew Brown

Yoel Kenan is the CEO and founder of Africori, a digital music company that provides digital infrastructure solutions and support to local artists, composers and producers in Africa.


The music industry succeeded, giving it the confidence to resist any attempt to embrace the concept of digital or to find new ways to add value to a disenchanted public. It insisted on sticking to a business model that was decades old: selling an album of about 10 songs to give fans access to the one song they wanted to hear. Then came iTunes, an online music service integrated with Apple’s iPod, a digital alternative to the Sony Walkman. Apple’s charismatic CEO, the late Steve Jobs, was able to convince most major American music labels to allow digital tracks to be sold on iTunes, and also played on computers. Overnight, the album died. Individual tracks at a dollar a time made so much more sense to consumers. But it also meant that the music industry imploded – from a $33 billion business in the 1990s to $16.2 billion in 2011. In the USA in 2011, digital sales overtook physical for the first time, taking 50.3% of the market. Ironically, along with that landmark, album sales grew for the first time since 2004, as new artists like Adele gave the mass market a more compelling reason to buy a full set of songs. In all this time, the South African music industry tried to fend off the digital revolution, or at least hide from it. It was helped along by iTunes, which paid little attention to this market. As part of its deal with the music industry devil, Apple still maintained the entertainment industry’s fiction of geographically defined rights to music. So, despite how illogical it is in the boundary-free era of the internet, a South African could not officially buy music from an American or European online store – until December 2012, when iTunes launched in this country. But months before that, South Africa’s digital isolation had already ended. A German alternative to iTunes called simfy struck a deal with eXactmobile in South Africa to bring its service to this country. It is branded simfy Africa, underliningits intention of expanding northward.

Simfy was originally modelled on the online radio station Spotify, which offers unlimited access to a vast catalogue of songs at no cost. The latter is all paid for by advertising, which may work in markets with deep internet penetration, but is a non-starter in South Africa.

The South African adaptation is an all-you-can-eat model, for R60 a month. That, coincidentally, comes in at the same level as the BlackBerry Internet Service’s unlimited access option (excluding streaming media like video and music). It is also, according to eXactmobile founder and simfy Africa CEO Davin Mole, a price point that gave the major music labels in South Africa a sense of comfort. It’s not the first unlimited music offering in South Africa.Nokia pioneered the concept, but only for purchasers of specific phone models. That service turned the Nokia Music Store into the biggest digital music outlet in South Africa, but made little dent in the overall music industry. Both services offer millions of songs, but simfy Africa takes the concept a few steps further, opening it to all computer and most smartphone users. Through an app on BlackBerry, iPhone and Android phones, the music can be downloaded or played directly off the data stream. Ironically, Nokia is not part of this mix, as its Symbian operating system is not supported by simfy.

For the rest, as long as the monthly subscription is active, customers can build up unlimited music libraries on their own phones or computers, within the simfy app. The music can’t be played on other devices without using the app – another element that persuaded major labels to tolerate the service. The four major music labels in South Africa – EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner Music (Gallo) – are all represented. The independent music aggregator The Orchard, which was started 15 years ago to give independent music producers access to mainstream outlets and pioneered legal digital downloads, is part of the line-up. Two other aggregators, finetunes and Merlin, are also in there, and more are expected to join, giving unsigned artists a variety of options to access simfy Africa customers. Users can build playlists, make them public, and share their music tastes with other users. The beauty of the unlimited option is that it opens music fans to the concept of discovering new music. When you don’t have to pay $1 or R10 a time just to find out if you like a track, music truly arrives in your life.

iTunes has finally arrived in South Africa a decade after demolishing the traditional

music industry, but simfy Africa offers another legal alternative,

writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK

The music industry, for all its culture of revolution, has always resisted change, and almost always

to its enormous cost. When a program called Napster arrived at the end of the 1990s to allow online sharing of digital music files between individuals, the industry

took to the courts to shut it down.

Arthur Goldstuck is MD of World Wide Worx and Editor-in-chief of Gadget. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee

THE DAYTHE MUSIC

ARRIVED

THE DAYTHE MUSIC

ARRIVED


But even then, the likes of Miriam Makeba and Brenda Fassie knew – whether by nature or nurture – that to succeed they had to be distinctive, in content and/or style. They stood out and have remained relevant and profitable – some even posthumously, as in the case of Elvis Presley, Tupac Shakur and Michael Jackson. Jackson, according to Forbes, is the highest-earning (deceased) musician – earning $145 million in 2012. Elvis Presley, who died in 1977, earned $55 million last year, more than teen sensation Justin Bieber and many other living artists.

Many of these musicians have leveraged their talent and appeal to diversify their income streams. It’s not uncommon for artists to endorse or partner with brands for mutual benefit, such as Pharrell and Kanye West’s collaborations with Louis Vuitton. These artists are not just creative geniuses, but entrepreneurs who understand their value. Global megastar Beyoncé, for example, recently signed a $50 million deal with PepsiCo tobe its official brand ambassador.

Others have leveraged their appeal to make the world a better place for all, extending their brand beyond the arts or creative industries. Yvonne Chaka Chaka, who once churned out bubblegum pop hits, and global rock star Bono have extended their reputations to become respected humanitarians. Multiple Grammy-winning singer Youssou N’Dour is now tourism and entertainment minister in Senegal. Makeba was the first African artist invited to speak out about the injustices of apartheid at the United Nations.

That’s the power (and benefit) of branding. Branding is no longer the preserve of corporations, services and products. It is now

Brand and reputation guru Thebe Ikalafeng

explains why musicians should take branding and

entrepreneurship seriously.

Reputation guru Thebe Ikalafeng

explains why musicians should take

branding and entrepreneurship seriously

Musicians are renowned for being

passionate about their craft, often at

the expense of everything else. In days

past, their talent alone was enough

The market and the media were limited,

giving an artist the time and space to

focus solely on their passion

the ultimate differentiator of talent. Musicians now talk about themselves as brands.

Marian Salzman, Executive Vice-president of American advertising firm JWT, observed: “As a brand, you’re instantly recognisable and respected.”

The musician as a brandA brand is simply a promise made and a promise delivered. Followers of a musician are attracted by their artistry (and packaging) and the implicit promise of delivering on that promise on each record and public engagement. Jackson’s genius – his brand promise – was established by his inimitable moonwalk and the bestselling album Thriller, just as Weekend Special established the diminutive but impossibly talented Fassie. Before she became a brand ambassador for Nedbank and the like, we were introduced to Zahara through the magic of her voice on the 600 000-plus selling Loliwe.

In today’s brand-driven, multimedia, multi-artist world, it’s not easy to stand out as easily as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie, Angeliqué Kidjo or Salif Keita did. To a large extent, these artists benefited from being pioneers of their generation in a relatively isolated world with few media options.

In today’s borderless world, where one 140-character tweet can reach 40 million people in a second, it’s harder to stand out – even though it’s easier to be heard or seen. Today, for every Zahara who cuts through the clutter, there are millions of others who never get a chance to record a demo. To stand out, artists have to brand themselves. They have to package their talent and

deliver it in a unique and memorable way that distinguishes them from their competition – and, more importantly, in a way that makes money.

The overarching assumption is that as a musician, you have a talent on which to build a career. It sounds obvious, but the world is littered with “shower” or “karaoke” superstars who mistakenly fashion themselves as talented. With talent in the bag, it is easier to build a brand.

This requires investment and patience, like a bird builds a nest. Enduring acts such as Bon Jovi, the Rolling Stones and Masekela have built and invested in their brands over a long time. Have a realistic goal, a strategy, a network of collaborators and advisers, and media channels – Twitter, Facebook, websites – to tell your story and reach your community.

Musicians today are businesses. As Jay-Z put it: “I’m a business, man.” Forbes magazine estimates that Beyoncé and Jay-Z earned a whopping $78 million combined in 2012. Their peer, rapper 50 Cent, is reputed to have made $500 million when, instead of taking a fee to endorse Glaceau Vitamin Water, he opted and ultimately sold his stake when Glaceau sold the brand to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion.

Artists are building their brands and visibility and making money not only (and less so) from their craft, but also through sponsorships, endorsements, investments, merchandising and appearances – in which their music doesn’t necessarily feature.

Know what you’re signingIt is important for musicians to understand the medium of doing business – contracts. Many an artist has been left a pauper or disillusioned, and has blamed their record company, while the truth is that they didn’t understand what they signed up for in the first place. Thus, one of the most important investments for any artist is to surround themselves with trusted advisers – and to understand the business of music as well as their craft.

Consequently, it is important to understand that a contract means there’s a two-way responsibility – mutual obligations. When musicians engage with other businesses or brands, they are essentially leveraging each other’s images and reputations, and have a responsibility to protect them. Hip-hop artist Rick Ross learned the hard way when sportswear company Reebok dropped him for using offensive lyrics that the company believed were inconsistent with Reebok values. Similarly, Lil Wayne was fired as a Mountain Dew spokesman amid controversy over his crude lyrics in the song Karate Chop.

To mitigate risks, it is important to understand not only what your brand stands for, but to align yourself with brands that reflect or

complement your brand – where your mutual brands arealways in sync. It’s the same principle that guides successful music collaborations.

Finally, your brand is your reputation – your biggest asset. Reputations are built on trust. And trust is built over time.As business mogul Warren Buffett put it: “It takes 20 yearsto build your reputation and five minutes to destroy it.”To create enduring brand value, it must be built, enhanced, protected and remain relevant over time.

To succeed today as a musician, talent is not enough. An artist must be as passionate and aware about their brand as they are about their craft. Long after you have been prolific in writing new and relevant music, the brand will take care of you.

Thebe Ikalafeng ([email protected]; @ThebeIkalafeng) is a global African brand and reputation architect, adviser and author, founder of Brand Leadership (www.brandleadership.com) and Brand Africa (www.brandafrica.net)

1. Clarity: Be clear and focused on your craft, your values and your market.2. Authenticity: Be true to yourself rather than conforming to others’ expectations of you. The fastest way to fail is to try and appeal to everyone. 3. Distinctiveness: Stand out or step out. It’s important to be differentiated from your peers or within your genre, e.g. Brenda Fassie (township pop queen), Bob Marley (dreadlocked reggae pioneer) and Whitney Houston (the voice). As the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia put it: “You don’t want to be the best in the world at what you do, but to be the only one in the world who does what you do.”4. Consistency: It’s important to understand your core attraction or value and to deliver on that over time.5. Accessibility: Be available and accessible to your community of followers, e.g. Lady Gaga and her 40 million “little monsters”. Communicate, connect and build a relationship.

Photos: Thebe, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Salif Keita

What makesa great brand?

Why talentis not enough


Festival audiences are often different to audiences at other gigs. The very nature of festivals means you have a captive audience, but in general they are people who are far more open to new music experiences than, for example, a strictly radio audience.

Festival-goers seldom purchase their tickets with one act in mind. Of course the bigger the line-up, the better the chance of good ticket sales, but generally revellers are purchasing the experience as much as they are the music. There is also more planning and financial commitment involved on the audience’s part, since many of these festivals are in out-of-the-way places and require people to travel and stay over. Festival audiences take their music seriously!

What this means for musicians, particularly those new to the industry, is not only do you have the chance to reach a far larger, more receptive audience than usual, but also one that is looking to discover something new and different.

Getting on the line-up

“The first step is to make sure your performance is top class when you play at any gig,” says Tholsi Pillay, Manager at Kellerman Music and Deputy Chair of the Moshito Music Conference Board. “You never know who might be in your audience and production companies usually prefer to book musicians who they or their colleagues have seen perform before.”

She advises to take it even further: be proactive and invite the festival decision-makers to hear you perform. “Ensure you provide them with a good-quality demo CD, some great visual material and a well-written bio to get them interested,” adds Pillay.

Marketing magic

Festivals generally have big marketing machines behind them,so use that to your benefit. Don’t end up being a name tucked away at the bottom of a press release; rather contact the festival and discuss ways in which you can work together to market your performance and the festival jointly. Don’t rely on them to do your publicity for you, but be a part of the process.

“It’s a good idea to enlist a friend in public relations to help you, or to spend some of your budget on a PR service to organise interviews on radio, television or in the press in the run-up to the festival. They can also help you by selling merchandise and CDs during your set,” says Lisa Loeb from About Entertainment, who is the agent for Lira, Unathi and Louise Carver, to name but a few.

Don’t underestimate the power of social media: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the like are all very effective in buildingan expectant buzz and providing the necessary platforms for fans to access you and your music after the festival. Audiences love to relive the experience of the festival, so use the technology now freely available to make this happen – a short

When it comes to live performance, one of the most exciting places to play is at a festival. Over the last20 years, South Africans have seen a proliferation of these events, from the classics like OppiKoppi, Splashy Fen and Joy of Jazz to the more unusual alternatives like Up the Creek and Rocking the Daisies. For the savvy musician, festivals not only offer enormous audience-building opportunities, they are also the perfect place to get down to some serious industry networking.

Forward festival thinkingFestival fever is infecting South Africa… but how can musicians capitalise on this golden opportunity to get their music out there and exposed to the masses?

YouTube clip of your killer set will go a long way towards making your brand sticky.

Peak performance

Make sure you are ready for your performance. Let the audience experience you at your very best and let the festival organisers see you at your most professional.

“If the band has traction, promoters will take notice and if there is buzz around your band from the audience, festivals will want to book you again,” says Pillay. Avoid taking the partying aspect of the event too far and keep it professional before and after going on stage. A potentially reputation-making set can be ruined because the singer drank his voice away in the campsite the night before.

“A lot of guys get caught up in the wrong idea of what itmeans to be a musician. Drinking can have a terrible effect on the performance – and even insurance ramifications if equipment is ruined,” says Loeb.

Network, network, network

The music industry is proof of the adage that it’s not what you know, but who you know – and festivals are the perfect place to get plenty of networking done. Make use of the opportunities presented by a green room full of producers, promoters, managers, journalists and other musicians – you never know where those contacts and relationships might end up taking you.

According to Pillay, festival directors and staff tend to knoweach other, so making a good impression, both in your performance and in your professional attitude, can a bekey to subsequent bookings.

Etiquette

Look after your image both on and off stage: basic etiquette,or lack thereof, is what builds your live-performance reputation. Little things like keeping rotational dressing rooms clean can make a difference.

“Timekeeping is critical,” says Loeb. “It is completely disrespectful to get to your set late. Festivals run on a very strict time schedule, so being late causes problems for the organisers, musicians and audiences.

“You want to make the experience of working with you so pleasant that the organisers want to work with you again,”she adds.

Festivals can be very lucrative events and many musicians and bands are able to build their careers on successful appearances on the festival circuit. For the best results, it’s advisable to plan, perform well and keep it professional.

Photos courtesy of JT Comms Archive, Michael Glenister and Eugene Goddard


It got off to an incredible start when she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, one of the world’s most revered stages. In Le Comte Ory, a comic opera by Italian composer Rossini, Yende sang the part of Countess Adèle and went on to receive high praise for her role from critics at publications like the New York Times, which highlighted the standing ovation the singer received, and the Wall Street Journal, which lauded her “effervescent voice”.

But even greater praise came when Yende was honoured with a National Order, from President Jacob Zuma, for her “excellent achievement and international acclaim in the field of world opera and serving as a role model to aspiring young musicians”. And all this happened even before the year was halfway done.

Ever since she started studying music at the University of Cape Town’s College of Music, Yende, with her beaming smile and approachable nature, has been attracting attention and acclaim in a field that, for the most part, has traditionally been seen as a European art form. But Yende hasn’t let any preconceived ideas about who should be singing opera stand in her way.

Born in Piet Retief, the young Yende, after watching a British Airways advert with a snippet of opera (probably the Flower Duet from Lakmé by Léo Delibes) as its soundtrack, discovered a desire to sing and share her voice with the world. After attending UCT, she was accepted into the La Scala opera house’s young artists programme, where she became fluent in Italian within six months and began focusing on works by Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini.

Accolades have always been Yende’s for the taking – while in Italy, she won the prestigious Operalia Competition, founded by one of the Three Tenors, Placido Domingo, as well as a number of other awards. She’s become established as a young African to keep an eye on, an artist who is injecting a lot of buzz into a traditionally Western music genre.

Yet 2013 wasn’t supposed to be so busy; in fact, it was meant to be a year of study for Yende. But when the Met Opera called, asking her to fill in for the singer Nino Machaidze, who dropped out of Le Comte Ory because she’d fallen ill, Yende says there was no way she could turn it down. “This has been one the most exciting challenges I’ve ever come across,” she says, “and I’m very grateful to have had the courage and the drive to actually do it. Otherwise, I don’t think we would have been here today.”

But there was more work than she’d anticipated. Problems with her visa and travel issues left her with only 11 days available to learn the opera – as it was one she’d never sung before – and rehearse with the cast. But Peter Gelb, general manager for the Met Opera, says nothing the singer did gave away that fact. “She did remarkably well,” he says. “Especially when you consider that before this time, she’d never ever starred in a major opera in a leading role. It’s nothing short of miraculous that she had this triumph.”

For Yende, it was a triumph she “enjoyed immensely”. She told the New York Times that singing at the Met “takes a lot of courage, but also a lot of humility, because people come from all over the world just to hear you. God knows why; people are going through a lot of things. We have this gift of music, and to be able to share that takes a

huge responsibility. And probably I had to be reminded that I am entering a zone where I am actually going to be carrying that responsibility, and I should just remember to keep my feet on the ground.”

The Met, where so many established names have performed before her, has helped Yende’s star burn brighter. “The realisation that it’s an historical stage and so many singers have been here, and that I get to share that at the age of 27, is such a blessing. I’m very grateful,” she says.

And, she observes, music doesn’t see colour or country.“Music is something that we are born with,” she says. “It’s like the African rhythm; it’s like a heartbeat. In Sunday school you will have to sing one song, and a little girl will start harmonising it. Just like that, just by hearing. It’s that kind of world.”

Ever humble and focused, Yende has credited her upbringing and education in South Africa with giving her that solid attitude. “When you are young and hungry to learn, it is easy to lose your way if you don’t have the root already. Virginia Davids, my singing teacher, gave me a good backbone. As we know, singing is a mind game. If you mess up with the mind, it is really hard to crack it.”

Photos courtesy of ZimbioDotCom, Alma Boulevard Photography, Presidency of SA

and Zemsky Green Artists Management

Yende isn’t the only South African opera singer to “crack it” in a field usually dominated by European surnames, not African ones. She joins the tradition of greats like tenor Johan Botha and sopranos Mimi Coertse and Sibongile Khumalo, the latter being the first person to sing the title role of Princess Magogo in the first full-length African opera, Princess Magogo ka Dinuzulu. More recently we have witnessed the ascent of Pumeza Matshikiza, a soprano who has performed at Covent Garden in London and now works at the opera house in Stuttgart, Germany.

And there’s a new crop of singers coming up through the ranks, too. In 2012, Mthetho Maphoyi song at the TedXTeen conference in New York City, and Bongiwe Nakani and Thesele Kemane, also graduate students at the University of Cape Town Opera School, sang at a special United Nations event honouringNelson Mandela.

Meanwhile, Musa Ngqungwana, a third-year resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, recently became one of six winners in this year’s Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, considered the most prestigious competition in the United States for singers looking to makethat leap to the coveted stage. Perhaps one day he and Yende will share that international stage together.

‘Effervescent’ South African soprano

wows the opera worldThis has been a year of note for 27-year-old South African soprano Pretty Yende, who is rapidly scaling great heights, both at home and abroad


New Moshito Board toasts

10 entrepreneurial year

BONOKO KATE SIBONGILEBUTHELEZI HAZIELSON MTHEMBISENCHONCO JOHNNY CYRILDYER REFILOEGRAVER RONALDJOYCE RONALD GANNETMAHLANGU THANDI SOPHYMATINISE NONZUKISO PATIENCEMCLEOD GARTH BURNETMHLANGA MDAKA JERRYMKHWANAZI CHRISTOPHER MONCHO LAZARUS KIDWELLMTHEMBU MCABANGELI HELSFORDMTSWENI WILLIAM LAYIWE MYANGA CHARLES LISESEMANGHULELE TINTSWALO SONKIENGUBANE SAMSONNKOSI XOLISILE THOKOZANEPHORE SAMUEL LEKGOTLAPRETORIUS SOPHIA GERTRUIDA ELIZABETHRAEDANI TSHIVHANGWAHO ALBERTSEPENYANE PAULSIGWILI MAKHOSAZANE ELIZABETHWHITE RODNEY JOHN

In memoriamSAMRO pays tribute to the following SAMRO members who passed away. SAMRO’s condolences go out to their families and loved ones, and may they find comfort in knowing that the creative legacy of each and every one will live on.

The Moshito Music Conference and Exhibition is preparing to celebrate a decade of cutting-edge insights, music know-how and industry accomplishments with a newly elected Board of Directors.

Taking place from 21 to 23 September 2013 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, Moshito aims to offer a more focused programme that features a compelling mix of both local and international speakers, but also allows for better audience engagement.

This year Moshito welcomes Sipho Dlamini, SAMRO’snew CEO, as the Board’s new Chairman. A seasonedmember of the music business, Dlamini brings hisknowledge and experience to this dynamic team of entertainment industry professionals.

Dlamini is joined on the Board by Moshito Vice Chairperson Tholsi Pillay (MMFSA – Music Managers Forum South Africa), Treasurer George Lusenga (AIRCO – the Association of Independent Record Companies South Africa) and members Sipho Sithole (SAMRO), Simon Sibanda (NORM – National Organisation for Reproduction Rights in Music in Southern Africa), Steve Mashiya (SAMPA – South African Music Promoters Association), Samuel Mhangwani (SAMPA) and Vusi Leeuw (AIRCO).

Over the past 10 years, Moshito has become an eventof choice for those serious about achieving success in the music industry. The business of music is continually evolving, with the digital revolution transforming the marketplace. Industry challenges are only likely to increase and as an educational initiative, Moshito prides itself on helping prepare musicians for the business realities of theirchosen career.

“We are creating a staging ground for record labels, film and television production companies and musicians to promote themselves alongside the corporate brands that also havean interest in the entertainment industry,” says Pillay.

For more information and to register, visit www.moshito.co.za

Moshito Board: Front: Steve Mashiya (SAMPA), Sipho Dlamini (SAMRO CEO), Tholsi Pillay (MMFSA) and Vusi Leeuw (AIRCO). Back: Sipho Sithole (SAMRO), George Lusenga (AIRCO), Simon Sibanda (NORM) and Samuel Mhangwani (SAMPA). Photo courtesy of Moshito

The history of the Southern African Music Rights Organisation mirrors, to a large extent, the history of contemporary music in South Africa – and will be reflected in a new documentary to be aired on SABC1 in September 2013.

Titled Notes 2 Notes, the SAMRO documentary, commissioned to commemorate the company’s 50-year anniversary, is due to be aired on SABC1 on Sunday, 1 September 2013 at 6.30 p.m.

Produced by renowned production house Rapid Blue,Notes 2 Notes charts the story of SAMRO from its modest beginnings in 1961 to the global copyright asset management society it is today, protecting the intellectual property rightsof over 12 000 members.

Positioned as a “warts-and-all” account of the organisation origins and evolution, the documentary steers clear of portraying the SAMRO story in isolation, but instead takes a holistic look at the history of music in South Africa over the past 50 years. It charts the socio-political progress of the country through its music scene, as seen through the eyesof several major industry players.

With award-winning director Sara Blecher as the creative voice behind the project, it promises to be riveting viewing.

Feast your eyeson new SAMRO documentary

From the CEO’s desk - SAMRO Michel Jarre, who is the new CISAC President. We hope you enjoy this...

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