The Southern Africa Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) says it has begun collecting royalties on behalf of its members from TikTok, Facebook and Netflix, after having concluded licensing agreements with the popular digital platforms.
This is a major step forward towards adapting its licensing and royalty payments to the ever-changing technological landscape.
“SAMRO is pleased to announce that we have entered into licensing agreements with short form video content social media platform TikTok, global social media powerhouse Facebook as well as the video streaming subscription platform Netflix that will benefit members,” says SAMRO Chairperson, Nicholas Maweni.
“Thanks to the conclusion of these binding agreements, SAMRO will be able to collect royalties on behalf of members, for all copyright-protected content that features on these platforms, with immediate effect.”
Maweni says before the conclusion of these ground-breaking deals, platforms such as Facebook prohibited the use of copyright-protected content on their networks.
“This deal is going to enrich these platforms through the use of high-quality content produced by our members while at the same time broadening the scope and usage of member content,” says Maweni.
He says this will inevitably result in enhanced revenue for SAMRO members.
“It is absolutely essential that as SAMRO we license all music users and ensure that we deliver maximum value to our members,” says Maweni.
“The technological evolution we are experiencing is a welcome development as it creates new avenues through which the public can experience creative works while at the same opening up new opportunities for our members.”
He says SAMRO’s deals with TikTok, Netflix, and Facebook follow an already existing arrangement with the search engine Google.
Maweni says the SAMRO board is committed to efficiently administering Music Rights on behalf of music composers, authors and publishers.
