The country needs more local music on the radio

SAMRO has revealed to parliament that every year, tens of millions of rands have left the country’s music industry every year to pay royalties to overseas artists.

In the past five years, they have calculated that almost R500 000 has left the country in the form of royalties to international artists.

Artists are paid by the amount of usage of the music and so the more it’s played, the more money must be paid.

The issue is said to be that local radio stations do not stick to the quota as stipulated by various music regulations in the country, with popular commercial radio stations sometimes playing as little as 25 percent local music.

Pfanani<ct:Bold> <ct:>Lishivha, executive general manager of SAMRO’s Rights Holder Services explains that the company has proposed new regulations be applied to help South Africa’s music industry.

“We have proposed that the quota for public (SABC) and community radio stations should be increased from 40 percent to at least 65 percent, and that the quota for private commercial radio stations should be increased from 25 percent to 50 percent over a three year period.”

When asked if the content being played was not to be attributed to public interest, Lishivha responded, “There is evidence that South Africans love South African music. The problem arises when radio stations justify playing a lot of foreign music by saying that it is what listeners want to hear. Listeners demand what they have been exposed to. If radio stations are not exposing them to local music, they would not demand something they have never been exposed to. So, what we are essentially calling for is a change of mindset. As with anything, a change of mind can change a lot.”