Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has reaffirmed its zeal to help local talent in the country thrive through digital monetisation initiatives.
This comes as content creators continue to fight for monetisation of their content which is still ineligible.
Macra said this on Friday in Blantyre when it engaged some of the creatives in content creation led by Mikozi’s Bright Chiligo.
“It is refreshing to engage with creatives, we are already engaging global partners like Meta to unlock this industry’s treasure,” Macra acting Director General Mayamiko Nkoloma said.
He noted the industry’s potential with consumption appetite shifting from traditional media to digital landscape.
- Advertisement -
Nkoloma also acknowledged the industry’s potential to influence societal change.
“We need to actively collaborate to influence positive change in the country,” he said.
Companies like Meta and Google play a central role in content monetization by providing a comprehensive eco-system for creators to earn revenue directly from their digital content.
At the moment, many local content creators do not receive revenue from their works in the country with many earning it through registration in other countries.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
Chiligo confirmed of the meeting yesterday with Macra where he said they shared insights on turning creativity into opportunity from forex generation to job creation while tackling the challenge of effective monetisation.
He said currently even YouTube monetisation is not eligible in Malawi which has forced Malawian artists to change location settings to countries that are eligible for monetization.
“We say they are Malawian artists doing well on numbers but YouTube will recognise them as from South Africa and not Malawi. This is why we visited Macra as they hold a bigger voice and are capable of holding these talks with Meta and Google,” Chiligo said.
He said that in his view and research in previous years, the problem was an issue of numbers but now Malawi has proved to pull the figures online.
“An example can be now how Nasty C’s recent music video had 600,000 views in six days whereas Driemo got over one million views in the same time frame,” Chiligo said.
He said this is enough evidence that Malawi pulls more numbers and that perhaps YouTube and Google does not recognize that these numbers are from Malawi since Malawian artists do not register on these platforms as Malawian artists.
“This is why we needed a direct conversation with Google and Meta to make Malawi eligible for monetization so that our artists should not be forced to change location and credit other countries for our numbers,” Chiligo said.
Recently veteran producer Tapps Bandawe said the country needs to rise up, solve this puzzle and find solutions on how local content creators can generate revenue in the country rather than registering in other countries.
“Many of our creatives are earning revenue for their content from other countries. For instance, there are artists that have registered in countries like Tanzania and South Africa and have opened accounts there. We are losing money as a country,” Bandawe said.
