Thebe Mabanga
The stature of South African musicians is set to be drastically improved. This is if the recommendations of the Music Industry Task Team (Mitt) are successfully implemented.
The recommendations are contained in a draft report that has been prepared after a week-long seating for Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Ben Ngubane. They seek to put an end to artist exploitation and piracy, and raise the profile of South African music.
According to Carol Steinberg, adviser to the minister, the task team looked at the music industry from two levels.” The first is as a real contributor to the national economy by creating jobs and helping stimulate sectors like tourism and then also as a [commodity with intrinsic value] that may not necessarily generate income,” she says, adding that the process will now go to provincial centres such as Pietersburg, Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth before a final report is prepared.
The 12-member panel – which includes musician Sipho “Hostix” Mabuse, the National Arts Council’s Doreen Ntetha and Ghanaian music Professor Komla Amoaku – commented extensively on five crucial areas. These are performer rights, piracy, working conditions, human resources development and music education.
The first recommendation revolves around producer and performer rights. There is currently no payment which accrues to performers if their work gets broadcast or republished. Only the composer receives payment through the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) if the work is performed in public or broadcast and through the South African Recording Rights Association Ltd (Sarral) if the work is recorded.
The task team recommends a full investigation into Samro and Sarral’s activities as well as those of the National Organisation for Reproduction Rights in Music.
It further recommends the implementation, without delay, of needle time – a right which serves to compensate the producer and performer. This right was scrapped in 1965 and broadcasters have been opposed to its reintroduction, citing increased operating costs as their main reason. The formation of a National Collective Society has been proposed to administer this right.
This is closely linked to the immediate, effective enforcement of the 20% local content quota by broadcasters.
The second major recommendation is aimed at reducing – and eventually eliminating – piracy. To achieve this, the team recommends the banderoll system and a blank tape levy. Under the banderoll system, authentic tapes and CDs are distinguished by means of a device which cannot be reproduced – such as a hologram. This will help authorities to identify counterfeit goods and has a long-term effect of reducing prices of genuine products (because of higher sales volume). The money raised through the blank tape levy will then be used to contribute to social security for artists.
An area around which controversy has persisted in the music industry is artists’ contracts and general working conditions. The main problem is that the Labour Relations Act does not classify musicians as workers. This has led to music giant Sony offering to fund research that will best define the musos’ status. The Association of South African Music Industries (Asami) and The Musicians Union of South Africa (Musa) have been roped in to help draft a music industry standard contract to define basic employment conditions.
The two have also been instructed to devise a framework under which music industry workers – including technicians and sound engineers – can benefit from a structure like the Department of Labour’s sector education and training authority.
Finally, Mitt has proposed a foreign government-sponsored initiative to fund research into the introduction of music education as part of an integrated arts and culture syllabus.
The final report is expected within two months.