‘Equity and ownership important’ for musicians

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) last month put together a payment plan to ensure it clears its backlog of royalty payments to writers and composers, after racking up over R250 million in unpaid royalties.

Royalties, also known as needletime rights, are payments made to recording artists, performers, songwriters, composers, publishers and other copyright holders for the right to use their intellectual property.

In SA, these payments are administered by different agencies such as the SA Music Rights Organisation (Samro), the SA Music Performance Rights Association (Sampra) and the Association of Independent Record Companies.

In the case of Samro, for example, the SABC has committed to paying its outstanding debt of R160 million by April next year.

Sampra board member Tresor Riziki, drawing on his personal experience, speaks to Moneyweb about how musicians can be financially savvy over the holidays.

“You don’t always have to live in the moment,” says Riziki. “What we are really blessed with as artists is that we receive a lot of money in bulk and quite often.

“A lot of artists forget there is a lot of income stream when you are doing good because it is harvest season – but then there also comes dry season.

“You have to master the craft of how to spread it out.”

Sampra has administered needletime rights on behalf of over 15 000 recording artists and more than 5 000 recording companies over the past two years, distributing over R400 million in royalties to its members.

The multi-platinum-selling and multi-award-winning Congolese-born artist has had great success since he released his debut album VII in September 2015. Today Riziki has released three albums and two of his singles – Mount Everest and Never Let Me Go – have reached No 1 in Italy.

“If you write songs that have done well in the mainstream market, equity and ownership is important.”

Riziki says he writes about 90% of his music himself and collaborates with friends on the rest.

He says while there is more money in performing, “the long game is having classic songs on your catalogue that can play for the next 20, 30 and 40 years. We still listen to Bra Caiphus and Brenda Fassie.

“For me, that’s the legacy – if your music can still feed your kids and your grand kids, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about building something that will last.”

“I have made a lot of money from Mount Everest, like when it comes to royalties more than anything, and because of the success it had in Europe,” he says.

Italians discovered it on YouTube and in six weeks it became the most Shazamed song in the world. Shazam is an app that can identify album, artist and song title based on a short sample.

“It was crazy it happened so fast,” he says.

And where does the money go? “I have learnt to spend money on necessary things,” he says. “Sometimes I am investing in a recording or in assets that produce money for me, like music videos and things that I wear.

“Most of the time I think of saving and investments,” he says.

“Because you have to learn the craft of splitting the money right when you earn in bulk and then maybe don’t earn for a while.”

It’s about building something that will last.

Tresor Riziki musician and SA Music Performance Rights Association board member