Vee gets lion’s share in ViB Mobile downloads royalties

A total of P124 720 was paid to artists this year

 

GOSEGO MOTSUMI

Kwaito Kwasa star Odirile ‘Vee’ Sento is this year’s biggest earner in the ViB Mobile artists ring tone royalties.
According to ViB Mobile which recently paid music artists royalties for the second year running, Sento earned P22, 159.51, about P10, 000 more than his nearest competitor Oteng ‘Dj Oats’ Moshotle who received P13 591. Lezibo Simon and Moarabi Testify Moshimehi were the next highest earners, as they each received P10, 593 and P8, 934 respectively.
According to ViB Mobile PR and Marketing Manager, Palesa Makoti, a total of P124, 720 was paid to artists this year. “There are a lot of other local artists in our list who benefited from the amount…we have made sure that at least each year, we pay artists their royalties. We are currently working on a fixed date for the payouts,” she said.
Makoti says the royalties are part of their commitment to give artists a fair share for their hard work after they register with their organization. “After our first public payout out of P178 914 last year, this year we made our second public payout to local artists whose works were downloaded in all mobile operators in the country. Paying out these royalties is one way of compensating our artists for the work they put in and that is our commitment as an organization,” she said.
She explained that the total amount of royalty payments was low this year because downloads declined due to people not getting enough information about the new music that was being released by artists.
“We always urged artists to market themselves and get their music into the public sphere so that they are aware of their music and are willing to download it. The ViB Mobile platform aims to also make sure music is available digitally, reduce piracy, for artists to keep track of how their music was downloaded and compensated fairly,” said Makoti.
To benefit from ViB Mobile music download, artists have to sign a content agreement with the company and provide a single in Waveform Audio (WAV) format, together with a sleeve containing all their details, “We urge and welcome all artists to register with us so that they can enjoy rewards of their work.”