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“Wait a moment”, Socrates responded. “ Before you tell me about this student, I would like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Test of Three”.
“Three?”
“That’s right”, Socrates continued. “Before you tell me anything about my student, let’s take a moment to test what it is you are going to say”.
“The first test is TRUTH. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“No,” said the acquaintance. “Actually, I only just heard about it.”
“Alright,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know whether it is true or not?”
“Now let’s try the second test, which is the test of GOODNESS. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”
“No, to the contrary, it is not good news,” said the acquaintance.
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about my student even though you are not certain if it is true?”
The man struggled, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued, “You may still pass though because there is a third test called the filter of USEFULNESS.
“Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”
“Well, no, not really . . . ”
“Well?” Concluded Socrates.
Well, what you are about to hear from me is truthful, good news and useful information for music composers.
ZBC have at long last ‘agreed’ to pay royalties to musicians whose compositions they have used without payment since 2009.
Organisations such as the Confederation of International Songwriters and Composers, and the Performance Rights Society are also pleased to know that their sister organisation, Zimbabwe Music Rights Association, is happy.
Music composers in this country can now throng Zimura offices as is usually the case on the 1st June of each year since ZBC has been forced, first by the High Court of Zimbabwe and then by the Supreme Court after their appeal failed, to pay for airplay. Albert Nyathi, the Zimura board chairman tells me they will receive $100,000 at the end of this month and $200,000 at the end of May which will go into distribution on the 1st of June. That is good and useful news.
Tanga wekwa Sando, a popular musician in Zimbabwe had this to say, “I hope the new radio stations such as Star FM and Zi-FM have got their act together. They have been operating for nearly a year now and should start paying royalties for the ude of music on their stations.”
A lot of music composers will also be happy about this turn of events. This is not the first time that ZBC has been taken to court over failure to pay royalties for the use of music in Zimbabwe.
In March, 1988 the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Zimura were locked up in a legal battle involving the royalties which ZBC were supposed to pay composers for playing their music on both radio and television.
After a High Court order, ZBC, had threatened to stop playing all locally made records but they did not know that Zimura was affiliated to other international composers’ organisations such as Performing Rights Society, Association of Independent Radio Contractors, British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, Music Publishers Association, British Phonographic Industry, World Intellectual Property Organisation, Confederation of International Songwriters, Authors and Composers, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the British Music Incorporated.
The importance of being affiliated to these international organisations is a good one for local musicians. Let’s say BBC Radio 1 in London plays a song composed by Winky D or Oliver Mtukudzi, BBC, will pay PRS for such air play and collect on behalf of Zimura.
Similarly, when ZBC in Harare plays an Elton John or Rod Stewart song on their radio stations, Zimura collects on behalf of PRS , the organisation which will distribute to the artistes concerned. This reciprocal move is useful to both countries. If judgement had been passed ordering ZBC to stop playing all music under Zimura’s wing, this would have meant stopping playing all music except that which is in public domain.
Music only becomes public domain 50 years after the death of the composer. ZBC would therefore have been allowed to play music from the likes of Beethoven or Tchaikovsky who died way back in the 19th century, if such stocks do exist in their library.
However, the dispute between ZBC and Zimura was later solved amicably with ZBC agreeing to pay a percentage of its advertising revenue towards both local and international music composers.
This year’ it looks like history has repeated itself as ZBC finds itself in the same position. Fortunately, the situation has also been resolved amicably. Zimura says it was prepared to attach the CEO’s Mercedes Benz and 15 other vehicles if a solution had not been found.
The Zimbabwe Music Rights Association was formed in 1982 to protect the rights of music composers through negotiations with music broadcasters, publishers as well as all those who administer music through public performances and diffusion services. Simply put, Zimura was established to protect the copyright of music composed by its members .
It has been said that there is “no property more peculiarly a man’s own than that which is produced by the labour of his mind”.
Conversely, the intellectual property created by nationals of a country form the most important part of its national identity.
It is, thus, imperative both from an individual and a national standpoint that the production and dissemination of this intellectual property be protected.
Copyright is the exclusive right given by law for a certain period of time, to a composer, author or artist (author) to control the use of the works of his mind.
The author of an original musical, literary, dramatic or artistic work is entitled to protection against the unauthorised use of his work as well as a share of any earnings from its use.
The economic rewards that copyright assures the author provide a stimulus to creativity form which all society benefits.
Copyright legislation must therefore find a balance between the needs of society for knowledge and learning, and the rights of the author.
The law of copyright is governed in Zimbabwe by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.
This act aims at protecting the rights of artists in areas such as literacy, drama and musical work in as far as:
(a) reproducing the work in any material form;
(b) publishing the work;
(c) performing the work in public;
(d) broadcasting the work;
(e) causing the work to be transmitted to subscribers to a diffusion service; and
(f) making any adaptation of the work.
So anyone who plays music in public including inside public transport vehicles, such as combis, must own a performance license from Zimura.
If Zimura gets its act together and improve on its inspectorate, there would be thousands of dollars collected from combis alone within Harare. Zimura is protected by the Act to act accordingly.
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