•Deferred the licensing of Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) for the 2020-2022
All of Kenya's Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) will not be licensed for 2020 to 2022 by Kenya Copyright Board until they comply with the newly amended Copyright Act.
The CMOS; Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP); Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK) and the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) will go through a rigorous process to get back their licences.
Kecobo's board of directors deferred the licensing of CMOs to establish proper governance systems and eradicate wasteful management of royalties.
The CMO heads will have to provide a forensic audit for the period 2017 to 2019. CMOs must be properly structured to ensure compliance with the law, various regulations, good governance and integrity in the management of members’ resources.
Another stipulation by the board was CMOS must obtain fresh mandate from their members through proper and transparently conducted Annual General Meetings (AGMs).
There will also be vetting of senior management staff of the CMOs and the board members of the three CMOs and obtain the relevant background details.
Kecobo shall undertake a formal review of the register of members of the three CMOs to ensure that they are in order.
Even after the CMOs meet the above checks and reports are received, Kecobo will ensure the organisations adhere to various conditions.
These include restrictions on the number of meetings to curb board expenses for the respective Boards of Directors; CMOs should be restructured to ensure proper separation of board and management responsibilities in line with globally acceptable corporate governance practices.
There will also be controls that ensure administration costs for the CMOs are capped to not more that 30 per cent of their collections.
The licenses will also be issued subject to acceptance of joint collection among the three music CMOs.
The CMOs will be required to procure and use an ICT system for collection, monitoring and distribution of royalties to be approved by the regulator.