A new tariff has deejays up in arms, the latest in a long saga of entertainment industry circus revolving around fees and royalties.
“Milking the DJs to pay the artistes?” asked comedian Rapcha the Sayantist. “The DJs make the artistes popular by playing their music on heavy rotation in clubs and events…”
A new music tariff has been announced, which will require deejays to fork out Sh20,000 for an annual license to play at venues that don’t have a music license. This came on the heels of the previous tariff, which touched on political events, aspirants and an increment in the annual fee establishments pay to get a license.
Needless to say, deejays are not happy. Gospel deejays and social critic Deejay Krowbar was quick off the blocks, asking, “Most venues music is played or DJs come are licensed. Who are they targeting with this?”
He is not alone.
In the era of social media and an informed and opinionated demography, everything the state announces is met with skepticism.
Popular house deejay Hiribae, who is younger in the industry than Krowbar, but old enough to be aware of the intricacies of the industry, was not amused, using his social platform to ask questions on who stands to benefit.
“How does the money collected by these CMO’s (Collective Management Organizations) reach the artistes whose music we’re playing, both international and local?” he wrote. “Also, if I play only my original music, do I need to pay for the license?” Deejay Benn on Point pointed out that the new law was a duplicity in the ecosystem, a knee-jerk reaction that never made sense in the grand scheme of things.
“Most establishments, namely clubs are already licensed, so no need to do duplicate payments,” he explained, frustrated that every new law makes it much harder to earn a living.
But according to Dan “Chizi” Aceda, a veteran performer, founder and CEO of Sema Box Africa, and board member of Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO), the news were misreported.
“Just resharing that this story is wrong,” he posted on X. “First, the deejay license is only needed where the venue you play at doesn’t usually have a license (e.g weddings at gardens). And that has two options. Sh1,000 per day or gig, or Sh30,000 per year. Whatever is easier for the deejay,” he said.
Kenya does not have a collection problem but a disbursement problem.
Every administration has promised to streamline the collection and disbursement of royalties to performers without success.
On August 24, 2019, while speaking in Gatanga at the burial of Benga crooner John De’Mathew, then President Uhuru Kenyatta acknowledged the existential crisis, saying in Kikuyu: “We know there is a problem in the industry. There is no way you (CMOs) can collect about Sh200 million and then say you used 60 per cent (of the amount collected)…”
In December of 2025, the Ruto administration announced that all royalties would be collected through the controversial E-citizen platform.
Speaking during the announcement, Dennis Itumbi, the head of Special Projects and Creative Economy, said, “For decades, Kenyan artistes have created value with a broken captured system ensuring they never saw their money.
“Royalties were collected but not paid fairly. Audits were done but not acted upon. Promises were made but cartels stayed in charge. That era ends now.”
In March, speaking on a TV panel titled ‘Big Hits, Empty Pockets’, Itumbi, again, promised artistes that the collection would fully transition to E-citizen by the end of the month.
Then in another shocker, President William Ruto met Urbantone artistes on April 1 to solve something entirely different, loss of copyrights to “exploitative foreign contracts.”
It is with this backdrop that more artistes are veering towards other sources of income that enable them to earn directly, like doing live shows, corporate gigs and social media.
Many have long given up hope on the royalty avenue, with audited reports showing CMOs gobbling up to 70 per cent of collected revenues, leaving thousands of artistes sharing the remaining 30 per cent.
Miggy Champ aka Echambioni is one of these disgruntled artistes.
“I have been a member of MCSK (Music Copyright Society of Kenya) since 2010. As one of the notable musicians to come out of Kisii, you would expect I’d be among the key beneficiaries, but that hasn’t been the case,” said the popular vernacular singer, event MC and one-time political aspirant.
He laments that he’s been in the industry long enough to take every new proposal or directive or tariff with a pinch of salt as the effort never addresses the elephant in the room, disbursement.
“In over 15 years of membership, the only royalty payment I’ve ever received is Sh1,500, and that was 9 years ago.”
Even the Khaligraph Jones, who has an estimated 109,000 plus monthly listeners on Spotify, received a paltry Sh2,500 for a whole year’s work in 2019.
“The only other money I received (from MCSK) was in 2015. I received Sh3,000, which wasn’t royalties, but an allowance given to members who attended the AGM,” Miggy adds.
Only two CMOs are licensed by KECOBO; Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP), and Performing and Audio-Visual Rights Society of Kenya (PAVRISK).
MCSK, in which Miggy is a member, failed to get a license. The matter is in court.
“At one point, I even issued a formal letter raising my concerns, but I never received any response. Eventually, I gave up because the excuse has always been ‘kuna kesi kotini so remittance ziko suspended’.”
“Artistes send deejays a lot of music for free so that we play it. Who really stands to benefit from this? Not the artists for sure,” Deejay Hiribae poses.
With the new music tariffs announced by Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya, the State is looking at the forthcoming campaigning period.
Presidential candidates will pay Sh500,000 each, gubernatorial candidates will pay Sh200,000, senatorial candidates (Sh150,000), parliamentary and women reps (Sh100, 000), while aspirants for county assembly will pay Sh15,000.
To use music at rallies, often used to keep attendees engaged and energized, political parties will continue paying the same annual fee of Sh600,000, as before.
Celebrated artiste, one-time presidential aspirant, veteran song writer and performer, and a vocal activist for artistes’ rights, Reuben Kigame captured it very well when he said: “The issue is not allocation of royalties, little or much. The problem is that the royalties don’t get to the musicians. In our context, higher fees just mean higher looting by cartels, unless musicians are paid directly.”
