04 Mar 2019

Copyright Society of Botswana (COSBOTS) has encouraged all reprographic artistes, authors, aublishers, ahotographers, visual artists, sculptors, and poets to register their work with COSBOTS and join associations.

Addressing City of Francistown full council meeting, COSBOTS corporate communications manager, Seeletso Lekgaba said benefits of the membership was that members would receive advice to make informed and favourable contractual agreement, which would save time and money.

She further encouraged the development of creative, artistic and economic endeavors to ensure members derive maximum benefits whenever their works may be used commercially for public consumption.

Lekgaba said members receive royalties through their life span and for 50 years after their death before the works were put in the public domain.

She noted that royalties would only be distributed upon completion of the authentication process and approval of full membership by the society’s board of directors.

She told meeting that the users were obliged to submit regular detailed log sheets of the musical works performed adding that the log sheets should be submitted upon the agreed time frame.

At the moment, she said COSBOTS only collected for music and encouraged all users to apply by filling the forms available at their office.

She further called on councillors  to assist in extending awareness to all concerned parties.  In response, councillors wanted to know the criteria that COSBOTS used to monitor all radio stations looking at their small number of staff and asked how the society monitored and curbed corruption.

They also asked how much had been collected and how much had been given out including the highly paid artist. ENDS