- Unclaimed royalties return to the distribution pool after some time
- COSBOTS says it does everything to find beneficiaries of royalties
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
While the country’s only royalty collections society, COSBOTS, made royalty payouts for Distribution 14 between July 2020 to June 2022, the unclaimed royalties from the same cohort stands at P135 168.66, Time Out has established.
Unclaimed royalties are any music generated royalties and income that is named towards rights holders but are not given to its owners for some reason.
“Some royalties are not received as a result of partly registered works,” the CEO of COSBOTS, Letlhogonolo Makwinja, explained in an interview. “Other artists who contributed to music works might not be declared during registration and declaration of works.”
In search of rights holders
COSBOTS recently published a list of artists on its media platforms for rights holders to contact its offices to claim their fair share of royalties. The list features active music artists who are currently taking the music scene by storm as well as some who are no longer in life.
This means that these creators, writers or artists have not received the proper monetary credit that their music had generated.
Makwinja said while some artists on their list were active creatives, COSBOTS could only pay royalties based on the most current Know Your Customer (KYC) information provided by members.
What happens to uncollected royalties?
He explained that before they make the final decision about uncollected royalties, they make every attempt possible to find beneficiaries of the deceased artists to claim what is due to them. While he could not disclose the total amount due to deceased artists, he emphasised that the funds belong to the artists.
“There are distribution rules and guidelines derived from our constitution and membership rules and requirements,” Makwinja said. “The royalties must be claimed within a specified number of years after which they are returned to the distribution pool.”