Artistes losing out as Kenya Copyright Board funding remains inadequate, ministry warns
The PS revealed that Sh103,723,307 collected through the Blank Tape Levy as of February 28 remains undistributed due to an ongoing court case, exacerbating the financial woes faced by artists.
The State Department for Culture, Arts and Heritage has raised concerns over inadequate funding for the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO), warning that the financial challenges are limiting its ability to support young creatives and enforce copyright regulations.
Principal Secretary for Culture, Arts, and Heritage, Ummi Bashir, has urged the National Treasury to allocate more funds to KECOBO to enhance its role in protecting and supporting creatives.
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Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Sports and Culture, Ummi decried the financial constraints facing KECOBO, noting that the board has been unable to effectively support young creatives due to inadequate funding.
“The court battles between Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) and KECOBO have denied the youth access to enough money despite their investments in the creative industry,” she said.
She further revealed that Sh103,723,307 collected through the Blank Tape Levy as of February 28 remains undistributed due to an ongoing court case, exacerbating the financial woes faced by artists.
The meeting, chaired by Webuye West MP Dan Wanyama, sought to explore ways of streamlining the creative industry to improve earnings for young artists. Ummi informed the committee that KECOBO has not received any development funds from the National Treasury, with its budget restricted to recurrent expenditure.
“During the budget process, KECOBO requested funds to implement a comprehensive ICT system for monitoring, licensing, collecting, and distributing royalties to artists, but the money was not disbursed,” she explained.
She appealed to the committee to advocate for the reinstatement of Sh25 million that was cut from KECOBO’s budget in the first supplementary budget for the 2024/2025 financial year.
Extra funding
Additionally, she requested an extra Sh43 million to cover a rent shortfall of Sh17.4 million, internet services at Sh320,160, contractual obligations totalling Sh6.8 million, copyright enforcement at Sh13.3 million, and Board of Directors’ allowances of Sh5.2 million.
Ummi also highlighted the success of the National Rights Registry system, which has registered 60,000 works from 10,000 rights holders.
“The system allows creatives to register their works from the comfort of their homes or offices using computers, smartphones, or laptops,” she said, noting that this eliminates the need for artists to travel to KECOBO offices in Nairobi for registration.
She encouraged creatives to utilise the system to secure their copyright while emphasising KECOBO’s commitment to capacity building. She reported that the board has trained 5,000 creatives and 1,000 law enforcement officers in counties such as Nyeri, Isiolo, Embu, Machakos, Kakamega, Kisumu, Kericho, Kisii and Mombasa.
“The Board has conducted training on copyright, monetization, financial management, copyright registration, enforcement, and national values,” she said.
Ummi also announced that KECOBO has initiated amendments to the Copyright Act to align with technological advancements and industry needs.
“The Board has drafted the Copyright Amendment Bill, 2025, which will soon be submitted by the Ministry to the Attorney General and Treasury for counter-signing before proceeding to the Cabinet,” she said.
Wanyama assured KECOBO of the committee’s support, expressing concern over the low earnings of artists.
“The Committee is ready to support any initiative aimed at ensuring that artists who are toiling to create their products earn more money,” he said.
Suba South MP Caroli Omondi backed the introduction of new technology to improve the collection and distribution of royalties. He also emphasised that the proposed legislation should address the numerous court cases affecting stakeholders in the creative industry.
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