IF YOU SUBMITTED YOUR MUSIC TO BOOMPLAY USING A DISTRIBUTOR, THEY ARE THE ONES YOU NEED TO PUT TO TASK TO GET YOUR MONEY – ZAM PRESIDENT B FLOW
In Facebook address, Zambia Association of Musicians(ZAM) president B Flow alias Brian Bwembya shade light on the progress he and the association have made on the issue of Boomplay failing to pay Zambian artists for several years.
The ZAM president said on top of the association’s agenda on the issue is to find out what type of contract the artists have with the digital streaming platform.
The ZAM president said this is important to establish as there are two ways to put music on Boomplay.
He explained that the first way is directly through the platform’s portal, where the artist uploads the music themselves. In this case, the association needs to find out if there was a contract, agreed terms, and if money is owed to the artist so they can follow up.
The ZAM president said the second way is if the artist used a distributor, e.g, Tunecore, which contracted a third party, e.g, Boomplay in this case.
In this case, he said that the artist has no legal basis to directly contact Boomplay, requesting what is owed to them.
Therefore, they must contact their distributor to lodge a complaint, and the distributor is the one that is supposed to collect that money on their behalf.
“Therefore, the one you need to take to task, in this case, is your distributor, by complaining to them and telling them that this particular streaming platform called Boomplay has not been paying me as an artist, so you as my distributor, I am tasking you to ensure that you get my money from them and pay me just like you do with the other streaming platforms,” he said in part.
The ZAM president said the association is committed to getting to the bottom of the issue by engaging different parties and also listening to different submissions that they have so far received from rapper JEMAX and DJ Mzenga Man.
He therefore re-emphasized beginning from looking at the terms of the paperwork artists have with Boomplay.
He further added that the association is set to have an engagement with ZICTA and will give an update once that meeting is finalised.
ZAM president closed his address with a call on all artist to unite and transition to platforms that pay and urged music consumers to use platform that benefit artists because if an artist is paid right, a lot of people such as videographers, makeup artists etc are also paid.
