Thebe Mabanga
in your ear
The debate around local music content on South Africa’s electronic media once again took centre stage when the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) convened hearings to review its local content regulations.
The hearings followed the release of a monitoring report in October and a discussion paper on the review of local content in December. Both papers were released by Icasa.
The hearings were held in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg and ended last Friday. They were designed to review local content regulations, which were introduced in November 1997 when the main requirement for radio was that broadcasters play a quota of 20% local music.
According to Michael Markovitz, adviser to Icasa chair Mandla Langa, the recent process ”was one of the most comprehensive reviews ever done in the production and recording industries”. Icasa received 52 submissions from stakeholders including musicians, recording companies and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).
The NAB represents the TV stations, 19 SABC radio stations and more than 30 community radio stations. In a comprehensive submission the association called for more flexibility. The NAB based its argument on research conducted on its behalf by auditing firm KPMG.
The research shows that 30 of the 33 stations that responded are committed to the principle of local content. In its monitoring report Icasa found compliance levels of about 85% and cited cases of community stations that played as much as 80% local music.
Industry players, including the Freedom of Expression Institute and the NAB, have frequently criticised Icasa’s monitoring methods, describing them as cumbersome and inefficient. The KPMG research shows that stations spend about 10 hours a week fulfilling monitoring requirements.
Markovitz concedes that the monitoring method is less than ideal, noting that the system relies on the honesty of the broadcasters. ”This, however, does not mean that we are shirking our responsibility to monitor.” He says budget constraints prevent a move to an electronic or online monitoring system.
The biggest problem broadcasters have cited is a lack of material to satisfy the present quota of 20%. Stations that play genres such as adult contemporary, pop and rock were particularly vocal on this shortage.
The NAB has called for a broadening of the definition of local content to include artists’ promotional interviews and African content.
The NAB has suggested the use of the Australian model, as presented by John Martin, a prominent broadcasting consultant from down under. The Australian system is based on an audit of the output of the music industry. After the audit genres are categorised by the proportion for which they account, ranging from pop and rock at 62% to jazz at 1,5%.
The categories are then used to determine the various station formats to determine quotas, with stations that have a pop-rock format having up to 20% local content and those with a jazz format being required to play 5% local content.
For television, the NAB proposed extensive acknowledgement of initiatives, such as support for Sithengi (the annual film and TV market), M-Net’s New Directions and various art festivals.
Icasa will now consider the evidence presented before preparing its position paper. No time frame was given.