Samro image change

Samro (Southern African Music Rights Organisation) seems to be trying hard to change its image following the Brenda Fassie Affair which saw them accused of not paying royalties and then suing a critic for defamation, following comments posted on this blog. Whether co-incidental or not, Samro's new website contains a frequently updated blogroll, including a five part series on how royalties are paid (see link here) and an explanation by its Chief Operating Officer, Gregory Zoghby, entitled "how royalties are distributed" on its home page. Samro's image is important for the copyright industry in Southern Africa and perhaps Africa too but it does need to be careful about how it positions itself, especially at a time like this. Their latest press release by PR company JT Communication Solutions portrays SAMRO as "representing Africa" in a piece entitled "Africa to be heard at crucial World Copyright Summit" and is bound to cause an uproar amongst Samro's critics. It is commendable that Samro is taking part in this summit but Afro Leo is wondering just what, for example, open source/access groups like the ACA2K network are going to feel about the possibility that the press release may give the impression that Samro represents their voice in Africa too.

For the link to the Press Release click : http://samroblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/cisa1june.pdf