Legislators sitting on Parliament’s Committee of Information, Communication Technology and National Guidance, have warned that consumers might have to tighten their belts if a tax on common consumer gadgets proposed by musicians, is imposed.

The levy was proposed by the Uganda Musicians Association (UMA) and the National Culture Forum (NCF) which are advocating for amendments to the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, 2006.

The musicians, according to Sulaiman Kamulegeya, a director at UMA, argue that the blanket levy on the gadgets is necessary since everyone who has a smartphone or a storage device that will at one point listen, receive, store or share local content either by download or popular streaming services like YouTube or Spotify.

Justification 

Charles Batambuze, the vice chairman of NCF, also called for regulation of equitable sharing of revenue from caller ring back tunes.

“The artistes or creatives should at least be entitled to receive 60% of the revenue gathered by the law,” Batambuze told the committee on Thursday, October 26.

Batambuze also spelt out the imported gadgets on which a tax should be levied for the benefit of musicians and creatives, which include smartphones, flash disks, hard drives, memory cards, blank CDs, DVDs, tablets, printers, scanners, smartwatches, CD duplicators, jukeboxes and karaoke machines.

When asked what kind of percentage the Government should impose on the gadgets, Geoffrey Ekongot, the programmes director at the musicians’ secretariat, said the Government could levy a smaller percentage which could not affect the price of the gadgets drastically.

According to Batambuze, consumers these days no longer go to shops to buy music tapes or a CD. Instead, all of the music is on phones and portable storage devices.

“At the end of the day, the musician or creator is popular around the globe, but is poor because those platforms are not helping them to earn an income,” Batambuze said.

The artistes justified the levy based on what they called the rampant exploitation in the creative industry. And that the levy will also remunerate authors of books, music, film and visual arts through recordable media used to record, store, play and distribute the media.

The creatives also argue that the obligation to pay the levy should be with a domestic manufacturer or importer of the taxable devices and media. They also proposed that the implementation of the levy should be collected by the Uganda Revenue Authority in the case of locally made devices, at the point of leaving the manufacturing premises, while for imported devices, at the point of importation.

Also, that a copyright fund be created to manage the collected funds at the registrar of copyrights to manage the levy separately and the distribution of different categories of right holders be done through their respective collecting societies as agreed.

The consultations by the committee were derived from a petition that was fronted by National Youth MP, Phiona Nyamutoro, on behalf of the Uganda National Musicians Federation on the floor of Parliament.

The committee chair and Budiope East MP Moses Magogo, said the creative industry was critical since it employs a large number of youth.

“It is the responsibility of government to regulate it,” Magogo said as the creatives applauded him for becoming a ssalongo (a father of twins) after welcoming twin boys with Speaker Anita Among.

Magogo asked whether the creatives would be happy if the legislators urged telecom companies to set aside the use of music in ringtones as a business idea.

In response, the musicians argued how Facebook has always belittled the Kenyan market but has continued to have a presence in the country despite the court proceedings involved.

MPs React 

Musician and Bugweri Woman MP Rachael Magoola said even if creatives get 1.8%, the move should not be halted.

“One percent when translated from the revenues could be billions and if shared equally, everyone will go home happy,” Magoola said.

Kibaale County MP Cuthbert Abigaba said musicians silently sign contracts then come to Parliament crying for help.

“Why do you sign these contracts willingly and later you come to complain?” the MP asked, as he revealed that most musicians tend to sign contracts with the same telecom companies they are accusing of fleecing them.

Kawempe Division South MP Bashir Kazibwe asked if the musicians had lodged a formal complaint about infringement of their copyright according to the law.

“Can you adduce evidence? It is one thing to say your ringtone was used, and it’s another to prove it,” Kazibwe said.

In response, Derrick Namakadde said they already have cases in court such as Kwata Esiimu which was sang by Freeboy and Winnie Nwagi since 2019 against MTN and Airtel, as the plaintiffs are seeking accountability.

Kwania County MP Tony Ayoo was eager to find out whether forcing broadcasters to publish 70 percent of local content would affect their business performance as most consumers may prefer foreign content.

“I am concerned about how to implement and collect this levy and we wondered why someone would produce here and bring an ambassador from America to promote the product yet we have our own celebrities,” Ayoo wondered, noting that profits are taken abroad and not returned.

Koboko North County MP Noah Musa said the levy was likely to increase the price of gadgets which would in turn reduce the number of gadgets purchased and the number of content downloads and engagement.

In response, musician Daniel Kazibwe, popularly known by his stage name Ragga Dee, said even if the prices of gadgets go up, it will support the creatives after all.

“The gadgets that take our content should be levied. Even if the price goes higher, let it be, because they will be in support of our content,” Kazibwe argued.

Creatives defend levy 

Ekongot then called on Parliament to protect artistes from the competitive behaviour of telecom companies.

“Whenever we hold them accountable they threaten to withdraw,” Ekongot said.

According to Ekongot, telecoms last shared revenue of up to sh78bn and not sh7bn as previously asserted to the committee.

“It is simply because they don’t want to share the money,” Ekongot said.

Ramah Muyinda, a legal officer at UMA, said the import levy on gadgets was to be a one-off.

“It is paid once,” Muyinda said.

Some of the artistes present for the meeting included Cindy Sanyu and Phina Namugerwa.

Kazibwe said every ringtone selected by telecoms is valuable.

“There is no ringtone which is not a good song,” Kazibwe said as he countered the argument that telecoms play a huge role in promoting their songs on handsets.

Federations v associations

While the Uganda National Musicians Federation made the petition, legislators were of the view that the Uganda Musicians Association should be under the federation, but Ekongot disagreed.

“We have since disagreed on principle, especially when the federation wanted all associations to de-register but also the federation went ahead to create smaller factions. There was no logical basis for the structures they were creating,” Ekongot said as he revealed that the values of the federation and the association they were in do not align.

Ekongot revealed the UMA is a company limited by guarantee.

Batambuze concluded by noting that the creative industry should be helped to survive on its own creations.

“Where would breweries be without music in the bars?” he asked.