Kenyan music video producers 'to receive royalties'

This development comes after the Audio Visual Rights Society of Kenya (AVRIM) and Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) partnered on 9 September.

“Kenya is a little behind when it comes to realising intellectual property rights, especially in music," Liz Lenjo of AVRIM said . 

"We have not been incentivising music video directors and producers. We are now telling Kenyans it’s about time to start appreciating how they bring music videos to life, their ingenuity in keeping us entertained.”

Chinedu Chukwuji of COSON said: "The partnership suggests that the successful concept used in Nigeria should be adopted in Kenya. Whatever natural resources we have as a nation like minerals will some day dry up, but one treasure that will never dry up is the mind. You can never stop mining the treasure of the mind. Some of the wealthiest people we have today are those who trade in intellectual property.

“One of the things we would want to see entrenched in Kenya is that owners of musical videos begin to earn income from their creations. Music videos celebrate and uplift our culture and history. These creators deserve some sort of compensation. If you don’t [pay them], the ink of ingenuity will disappear because there is no moral booster. You can’t pick their material and put it on your platform and say go home and God bless you. They have families and that is their pension."

The development has been received well in Kenya. Speaking to Music In Africa, music producer and director Patrick Og’engo, popularly known as Sapat, said: “This is a great milestone for us in the industry because we have been in the shadows for too long. In 2017, a song without a music video cannot sell on TV or online; people appreciate visuals. So you can see that the role we contribute towards the success of musicians is huge.”

Sapat said other professionals involved in music video production should also be recognised for their hard work. “Musicians are always credited for best videos whereas the brains behind the video creation are not equally recognised," he said. "I would also request AVRIM to come up with a log sheet for music video producers and directors.”