MBC owes Cosoma K79 million
Malawian artists on Wednesday patronised the Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was held at Grace Bandawe in Blantyre.
During the gathering which was dominated by musicians, several issues were discussed. Outgoing Cosoma Board Chairperson Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango presented a report during the AGM covering the period July 2014 to June 2015 which saw him announcing that the copyright body is owed K79 million which includes accumulated debts as well as current invoices for MBC and K7.8 million for MBC TV.
“A number of meetings were held with MBC to explore possibilities of MBC clearing its debts. However, MBC has been paying instalments of K2 million every month,” said Mhango.
He added that at the meeting which was held with MBC management in April, 2015, it was agreed that MBC will work on increasing the instalments and that they proposed to continue paying K2 million every month and an additional K3 million each quarter.
“This has not been done. The secretariat is still following up on MBC with meetings. The last meeting was on August 5, 2015 where
MBC promised to come up with a definite proposed plan of payment to increase the monthly instalments,” said Mhango.
In his report Mhango also revealed that Matindi Radio Station which owes the society a total amount of K1, 218,000 has only paid K645, 472.33 since last September, 2014 and that efforts have been made to collect the money but were told later that Matindi closed.
“The challenges with broadcasting still remain the same. untimely payment of copyright fees by most radio stations which affects income flows of the society,” said Mhango.
He said that the secretariat will continue to intensify debt collection through regular follow-ups. Meanwhile Mhango revealed that the society collected a total amount of K26 million in the period under review from radio and television stations.
Mhango who is also the Musicians Union of Malawi ( Mum) President also told the gathering that the society has continued to make strides in many areas in the period citing among others securing of funding from government for the Integrated Arts Development project which seeks to establish a school for the arts, establish a microfinance cooperative and a production and marketing cooperative.
“It is a project which, if successfully implemented, will transform not only the music industry but the creative industry as a whole,” he said. Some of the musicians that patronised the AGM include Charles Nsaku, Eliza Kachali Kaunda, George Mkandawire, Haxi Momba, Anjiru Fumulani, Anthony Makondetsa, Overton
Chimombo, Mlaka Maliro, San B and Favoured Martha. The past gatherings have seen musicians receiving royalties during the AGM but it was not the case yesterday as Cosoma said from now onwards the system will be different.
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