SAMRO Recieves R1.2 million From US Ambassadors

Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) has received an amount of R1.2 Million from the Ambassadors of America.

SAMRO is an organisation that deals with the licensing of music users (such as television and radio broadcasters, live music venues, retailers, restaurants, promoters and shopping centres), through the collection of licence fees which are then distributed as royalties.

It also plays a vital role in funding and supporting music and arts education through the SAMRO Foundation. It also boosts the local music industry by hosting regular seminars and workshops, and supporting conferences such as MOSHITO.

Ambassadors from around the world financed a US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation grant, which is given each year to a deserving global project that seeks to preserve the heritage of music and SA was the chosen origin this year round.

US deputy ambassador Jessye Lapenn said that they were impressed by the way SAMRO plays it’s role in preserving the SA music culture. “They are filling a really unique niche and are committed to helping preserve and empower musicians which excited us. It is the idea of knowing where we came from to understand where we are going and that is clear with this project. It empowers musicians to fit into that culture of music and draw inspiration from it,” Jessye said.

Members fro SAMRO expressed how honoured they were for being chosen.”We are honoured that we have been chosen for this grant. We have a rich South African musical history and many of the indigenous languages and instruments are at risk of being lost or forgotten so it is our responsibility to preserve these for future musicians and scholars. We are a society of oral history and some of that needs to be preserved before it is lost forever. I think it is that motivation that gave us the edge,” SAMRO Managing Director André Le Roux told TshisaLIVE.