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The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Thandi Tobias-Pokolo has made an undertaking to assist music artists resolve problems that have been dogging the industry for a long time. Deputy Minister Tobias-Pokolo spoke at a three hour long meeting she had with more than 50 artists, music promoters and producers at a stakeholder briefing on intellectual property issues at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) Campus in Sunnyside, Pretoria today.
The briefing was attended by amongst others representatives from the Creative Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA), Association of Independent Record Companies (AIRCO), South African Music Promoters Association (SAMPRA), Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA), Moshito, Composers Association of South Africa, Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), South African Recording Rights Association Limited (SARRAL), Music Managers Forum and the Music Industry Federation of South Africa (MIFSA)
‘I have called this meeting so that I can hear firsthand the concerns that are being raised by artists all the time. There is a need for the department and the industry to establish a good working relationship in order for these concerns to be addressed to the satisfaction of this country's artists. But we can only do this if we all come closer and discuss issues in a cordial environment that enables us to engage on whether the policies of government are having a positive impact on the artists of this country when it comes to their intellectual property,' said Tobias-Pokolo in her opening remarks.
Delegates had an opportunity to raise a myriad of issues that impact negatively on the industry and implored government to assist them find solutions to the problems bedevilling the industry. These included loopholes and inadequacies of the Copy Rights Act of 1978, local content on radio stations, piracy, payment of ‘needle time' royalties, collecting societies, contractual issues, the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
After listening to numerous inputs from the delegates, Tobias-Pokolo said it was crucial that all the stakeholders become part of the process in an effort to address issues raised by delegates. She then committed to a programme of action that she said she would personally ensure that it was implemented.
‘The next step will be to prepare a report of this interaction that we are going to circulate to relevant stakeholders for their inputs. Thereafter a meeting will be called where a task team representative of all the stakeholders will be established to drive the process of resolving all the issues you have raised forward,' said Tobias-Pokolo.
She also promised to convene an intergovernmental meeting comprising of the Departments of Trade and Industry, Communication and Arts and Culture to ensure that the government employs a cluster approach to the music industry problems. This was in response to the complaint by delegates that they have had meetings with other government departments where the same issues were raised and were not attended to.
‘We will also look into the possibility of making the dti grants and incentives available to the industry, attend to the problem of piracy, collectively with you and all the relevant stakeholders and also look carefully at the books of the collecting societies and establish the veracity of claims that they are making surplus instead of collecting the money due to artists and distribute it to them. But for these things to happen and things to change, we need your utmost cooperation,' added Tobias-Pokolo.
She also requested the delegates to make their voice heard by making submissions on the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill when public hearings begin in Parliament in June this year. The Bill deals mainly with indigenous knowledge relating to intellectual property. The deputy minister also stated that the Intellectual Property Draft Policy will soon be in the public domain for consultation and therefore urged artists to engage with it in order to assist in resolving their problems. The draft policy deals with the overall reform of trademarks, copyright, patents and designs.