By Alfred Byenkya
The self-proclaimed president of Ugandan Gospel Artistes Denis Laneck on Friday afternoon, January 20, protested at a meeting organised by Uganda Performing Rights Society (UPRS) over not giving his members their annual payment.
Laneck, who claimed he was representing Ugandan gospel artistes at the January 20 UPRS annual general meeting, said he had to protest because his members needed royalty payments for 2021 and 2022.
“UPRS collected sh247m in the last two years. I never came here to listen to stories. I only came here to know if I and my members will be paid their money,” he fumed during a brief media interview with journalists at the National Theatre, where the meeting took place.
Laneck said he was expecting each member, who attended, to go back home with at least sh1.2m, but was surprised to see that they left the meeting without any money.
“I call upon other members of UPRS to demand for their royalty payments because this is the only way gospel musicians can earn from their music because churches do not pay them any money for their performances,” he said.
According to the available data, the collecting body has 5,000 members countrywide, but only 1,600 qualify to be paid.
They have, however, not yet agreed on the formula for determining how much money each should get because they don’t have a digital data system, which shows how many times songs of members were played by a radio or TV station in those two years.
Other members proposed that the money should be kept in the bank for one year as they come up with a system or criteria which they will use to determine how much money each member will be getting.
Before the meeting, UPRS board members held a press conference at the same place and said they are going to do a sensitisation campaign to see that businesses that use Ugandan music pay.
They said they would have agents in all districts of Uganda, who will be collecting money on behalf of the organisation.
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