Zimura to pay musicians

to pursue alternative avenues to get money after the national broadcaster ZBC and two other commercial radio stations Star FM and ZiFM reneged on their promises to pay up.

In a statement yesterday, Zimura chairman Albert Nyathi (pictured) could not be drawn into revealing the source of money, but said the association had sourced funds from unspecified sources.

“Zimura advises its valued members that there will be a distribution of royalties in 2013. Despite the fact that ZBC has neglected to pay up what it owes us in terms of our High Court judgment debt. This is despite the fact that Star FM and ZiFM have refused, failed and/or neglected to pay royalties for broadcasting our music, Zimura has, through other efforts, raised enough money to be able to distribute modest royalties in 2013,” Nyathi said.

However, Star FM general manager Admire Taderera said that he was happy to pay up as long as they agreed on the payment formula.

“There is nothing much I can say about the matter because to the best of my knowledge, we asked Zimura to furnish us with an internationally acceptable modality of paying and they have said they will get back to us and they have not. So it will be unfair for anyone to say we have neglected our responsibility,” said Taderera.

Supa Mandiwanzira, who owns ZiFM, said his station wanted to pay up, but they were unhappy with some clauses in the contract with Zimura.

“We are still committed to paying up the debt, but then we realised there were some clauses that we were not happy about especially where they said they could increase the fees without our consent,” he said.

Zimura claims the royalties could have been much higher had the broadcasters paid.

Despite being armed with a High Court of Zimbabwe order to attach ZBC vehicles, Zimura has not been able to recover much from the royalties debt which is now running close to US$1 million.

This delay in payment has affected several members of Zimura who eke out a living from royalties. Public transport operators including commuter omnibuses and taxis are now required to buy radio listener’s licenses.