When will this pay day be?
On Wednesday this week, the focus from many players in the creative industry was on the developments taking place at the Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.
The hotel was the venue for a noble exercise being undertaken by the Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) where it was disbursing blank media levy royalties to musicians, literary authors and film producers.
The musicians shared K279 million, with 54 of them managing to hit the K1 million mark. The top earners, Driemo and Eli Njuchi, got K5 million each. The top earners were also presented with a certificate of recognition.
The literary authors/publishers shared a whopping K139 million while film producers shared K87 million. In total Cosoma disbursed K505 million in blank media levy royalties.
The amounts in question give a clear indication of how colossal this engagement was to the creative players and all those who love art.
Admittedly, I was one of those who kept my tabs on the events at Crossroads Hotel though remotely. The link offered by technology ensued I stayed in tune of the turn of events almost in real time.
Apparently, the interest and attraction of this undertaking was not restricted to those who have a stake and interests in the creative industry alone. As I went about my business on the day, I received a call from my colleague Andrew Mtupanyama.
His call was not odd as he often calls on this and that. So seeing his name and number blinking on my phone display in this instance was not something that surprised me really. However, what surprised me was the subject matter that he introduced upon exchanging a few pleasantries.
“Brian, so musicians are receiving their royalties today?” I responded in the affirmative on the other end. He went on to mention the amounts that were involved in the exercise. From that moment, I knew I was talking to someone who had sufficient information on the subject matter.
Before I had picked out where he was taking our conversation, he swiftly put my lingering mind, which was trying second guess him, to rest. “Brian, tell your friends to make good use of these opportunities. Let them invest so that tomorrow the nation will not be asked to fundraise for their dry days,”
He went on with his sermon as I listened on the other end attentively like a child being reprimanded after being caught stealing mangoes by his parents. It took him long to stop his wisdom granting intervention.
“You know what Brian, art evolves. What is appealing today may not sell tomorrow. That means the relevance of some of these artists will still wane at some point. Others will have to come in. The circle of this trade spins like that. Let them make hay while the sun is up,” his narration continued in a more serious tone now.
“It is not everyone who has managed to receive a million at once. That tells you that a million is not a small out. Out of it, one can make an investment whether big or small,” that was the end of his sermon.
So, basically I am here just as a humble messenger to relay the message from my senior. He is a man who is well-measured in his indulgences and he has seen considerable rains. Since we became colleagues, he has not given me any reason to doubt or question his reasoning.
On this one, I know he is speaking from a point of experience. The journey that life has taken, he must have seen this before. He knows how some tales and careers have ended. His concern is to try to help the current trendsetters fall in the same ditch.
Therefore, my task this week is very small. Uncle Andrew has said it all. What remains for me is to just extend my congratulations to Cosoma for living up to one of their core responsibilities. The industry players need such financial injections if it is to flourish.
After all the toil that the creative players have done, they surely deserved this pay day. I am reminded me of the song by Culture, Pay Day which goes: “My forefather worked down here, on this great plantation. True he didn’t get no pay. For all their wasted days. Tell us now!When will this payday be?
