The Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (Nascam) has distributed 1.6 million Namibian dollars out of the 2.3 million dollars owed to content creators for 2023 royalties.
These payments were part of Nascam's ongoing efforts to ensure creators receive royalties for the previous year's works.
Funds are collected primarily from broadcasters and jukebox owners, with 70% of royalties redistributed to content creators and 30% retained by Nascam for administrative purposes. However, payments are retrospective, with data collection for one year being processed and paid out the following year.
Nascam's mandate is to protect the rights of musicians and producers and ensure fair distribution of royalties. The organisation faces challenges, such as broadcasters and jukebox owners failing to pay, and content creators not registering their works or updating their bank details.
Albert Nicanor, Nascam’s CEO, said, "It is their obligation to make sure they register their works. We have a huge number of works that are their creations, their work, which has not been registered with us... They are supposed to, on a regular basis, notify us that they have created new works and then we upload this on our database so that they can earn royalties."
Nicanor emphasized the importance of broadcasters and jukebox owners adhering to payment obligations, warning that failure to do so will result in license revocation. He also encouraged content creators to innovate and leverage digital platforms to maximize their income.