One of the country’s mobile service providers Telecel has introduced a system that will see local artistes benefitting from their own music. This week, Telecel launched Teletunes; a product aimed at promoting local music as well as providing entertainment for subscribers.
Telecel public relations executive Francis Chimanda confirmed the developments and how they will benefit the artistes. “Teletunes is the brand name we use for a service which allows subscribers to set a musical tone or recording that can be heard by all people calling their number. The tune that plays replaces the traditional ringing sound that occurs while you wait for your phone call to be answered."
“There is no charge to the person calling in before the phone is answered. The charge for subscribing to the service is incurred by the Teletunes registered subscriber only. Through our content provider, Telecel has ensured that all the relevant authorities have been engaged prior to the official launch. This includes Zimura and other bodies relevant to the music industry,” he said.
Chimanda explained how the programme works in terms of charges. “The system has tracks stored on it and at the end of each calendar month, a reconciliation of the number of hits per track per artistes is generated and that becomes the basis of the payment. Telecel does not deal directly with individual artistes but works through content providers.
The artistes have separate contracts with the content providers which outline how they will be paid,” said Chimanda. The purchase price is one dollar per tune, allowing the subscriber to use this tune for 30 days. At the end of that period a dollar will be charged for another 30 days unless the subscriber sends an unsubscribe message to discontinue usage.
Artistes and promoters have welcomed the move. Online Urban Grooves Promoter best known as Zimba Nice on Facebook welcomed the move. “As Urban Grooves family we welcome the move by Telecel and I think if well implemented it will benefit our artistes. What is left is for the subscribers to like the service. They should also know how it can benefit the music industry, if it goes well, then artistes have something to celebrate,” he said.
Ngoni Kambarami one of the longest-serving urban grooves said the process was long overdue. “I heard about it and I feel that us as artistes are owed that much. It has been long overdue and we are very happy to have such a service. It is our hope that the music industry will finally start paying off,” he said.
Henry Makombe of Zimura licensing department said they were yet to finalise on all the copyright acts being used by Telecel, but described the move as beneficial for artistes.
“With this kind of product there are two acts involved, the Public Performance Right and Mechanical Rights acts. I just need to find out first what they are really doing and how they are using the music."
“If they are doing it like the guys from ZTE and Econet are doing, they will have to pay licences. As Zimura, we manage public performance rights. So when we finalise the talks we will be able to tell how much it will help our artistes.
Artistes and promoters have welcomed the move. Online Urban Grooves Promoter best known as Zimba Nice on Facebook welcomed the move. “As Urban Grooves family we welcome the move by Telecel and I think if well implemented it will benefit our artistes. What is left is for the subscribers to like the service. They should also know how it can benefit the music industry, if it goes well, then artistes have something to celebrate,” he said.
Ngoni Kambarami one of the longest-serving urban grooves said the process was long overdue. “I heard about it and I feel that us as artistes are owed that much. It has been long overdue and we are very happy to have such a service. It is our hope that the music industry will finally start paying off,” he said.
Henry Makombe of Zimura licensing department said they were yet to finalise on all the copyright acts being used by Telecel, but described the move as beneficial for artistes.
“With this kind of product there are two acts involved, the Public Performance Right and Mechanical Rights acts. I just need to find out first what they are really doing and how they are using the music."
“If they are doing it like the guys from ZTE and Econet are doing, they will have to pay licences. As Zimura, we manage public performance rights. So when we finalise the talks we will be able to tell how much it will help our artistes.
We collect royalties on behalf of our artistes and this will be beneficial to them." “We collect revenue from any organisation that plays our artistes music,” he said. Dailynews
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