DIGITAL LICENSING:
Social media a blessing for SA musicians
South African songs, video and sound recordings are widely used on websites all over the world. Facebook Watch, a platform launched recently in the US, will include commercial content and user-generated content. There are indications that the licensing of the content will present great opportunities for creators. "Artists who had perhaps only seen Facebook, or the digital environment, as no more than a way to interact with fans directly, will suddenly start realising some additional revenue, should Facebook see the value in licensing content properly, at full value, unlike their competitors," says Nick Matzukis of the Academy of Sound Engineering. YouTube is a leader in the on-demand industry and in 2016 — after seven years of legal disputes and lengthy negotiations — entered into a licensing contract with Gema, the German collective management organisation, to provide fair remuneration for music authors. This is now a benchmark in the industry. On-demand streaming sites pay royalti...
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