In an effort to find a solution to the impasse between the Zimbabwe Musicians' Union
(ZiMU) and the Zimbabwe Music Right Association (ZIMURA), the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) facilitated a stakeholders meeting in ZIMURA tariffs for cover bands.

First, ZiMU thanks the National Arts Council for organising the meeting.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE MEETING

1. ROYALTIES HAVE TO BE PAID TO RIGHTS HOLDERS WITHOUT FAIL
It is a well agreed stance by all parties involved that composers/right holders HAVE to be paid for the use of their work/material. Without question, this is something that ZIMURA should have been doing since its inception in 1982. The failure by Zimura to remit live performance royalties to artists and composers whose work is used at other outlets outside of radio has robbed the said composers of their income and for all the years ZIMURA has been collecting the royalties. ZIMURA has denied that their current licensing of venues hosting live bands, some of whom perform cover songs, covers live performances. They have consistently said the licenses cover ‘background music’, yet in the meeting yesterday it was exposed that the licenses do actually cover ‘live music performance’. One of the attendees of the meeting is a venue promoter and brought their current licensing for the year 2025, as issued by ZIMURA. Again, such blatant lies and dishonesty in the face of such serious matters further exposed the long standing sore issue of a lack of transparency that has dogged ZIMURA for so long.

2. NO CONSULTATIONS WERE MADE
ZIMURA did not engage in any research or consultation prior to announcing and effecting this ridiculous imposition
As a membership driven association, ZIMURA has mechanisms at its disposal to consult its wide membership when mulling such drastic processes. They have an exhaustive database of artists with whom they regularly communicate with in issues of royalties and other notices. Why this issue was never sent out on that platform is strange. In the meeting, ZIMURA claimed to have been asked by its members to act on their behalf on this issue, with present members supporting this claim on the day, yet the same members have distanced themselves from such consultations before (Victor Kunonga professed ignorance on the imposition of the ‘law’ and pricing in a recent ZTN podcast on the issue). Whilst ZIMURA may want to insist that they ‘consulted’ members, there is a vast majority of fully paid up ZIMURA members - some of whom play cover songs on their live performances - that attest to only hearing of this issue when it flared up in the public discourse. In any case, ZIMURA has the opportunity of their annual AGM to bring such issues to their members  and ensure a smooth transition from idea to implementation. They chose to ignore that too.

3. ZIMURA ATTEMPTING TO ENFORCE UNPRECEDENTED MOVE
The Zimbabwe Musicians Union sits on the presidium of the International Federation of Musicians as deputy President. This is a position that ensures access to musicians’ unions from all four corners of the world, including royalty collection societies and CMO’s. In the meeting yesterday, ZIMURA attempted to align their latest draconian action to Ivory Coast,but a quick word with our Ivorian counterparts quickly put paid to that lie, once again exposing the lack of sincerity of ZIMURA in this move. Needless to say, ZIMU has consulted and is in current talks with partner musicians' organizations around Africa and beyond, regarding this issue. This is certainly a first and has no precedence anywhere in the World.

WAY FORWARD
We welcome the recommendation from the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, our
regulator, that ZIMURA go back to the drawing board, consult further and do in depth
research before implementing any moves on this issue.

Further to these recommendations, we implore ZIMURA to follow its own constitution and always be guided by its broad membership on such matters. We also recommend that they quickly work out ways in which to start paying composers and writing performance royalties from the licensing they already have in place from venues and promoters. This is the global norm in the music industry and business where cover bands’ performances are concerned. ZIMURA cannot attempt to reinvent the wheel - certainly not in this dubious, mercenary manner

.
ZIMURA office bearers have been mandated by the membership to act on their behalf and therefore need to be cognisant to that meaning they still have to consult with their paymasters - in this case the musicians/composers they work for and stop their misguided assumption leading to insulting anecdots like labeling artists ‘tenants’ to whom they are ‘landlords’. Something also playful in the face of the importance of the matter at hand.It is in this light that ZIMU puts it on record that we have lost all confidence in the office bearers at ZIMURA. They have clearly exhibited a glaring lack in honesty and any sort of values and leadership that are a bare minimum to run any affairs on behalf of composers.

Lastly, we are confident that approached with sincerity and a genuine need to align our local music industry with universal best interests, all our musicians, composers and songwriters SHOULD be rewarded and remunerated for their intellectual property. ZIMURA has displayed a disingenuous manner to address their inability to account for their inaction on this matter over the years. We remain adamant that with proper licensing of venues and promoters, the food chain in this very rewarding industry will be catered for entirely - fairly and squarely.
For now, LET THE MUSIC PLAY!!!