Category: Entertainment

Three Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) in the music industry failed to pay artists more than Sh100 million in royalties last year, paying them up to a sixth of their desired royalties during the year.

Among top artists who received a raw deal in the royalties received from the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), Kenya Association of Music Producers (KAMP) and Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK), include Otile Brown, Marakwet Daughter (Millicent Jepkorir), Simon Macharia (Musaimo), gospel artist Solomon Mkubwa and the late Kikuyu artist John De Matthew.

This has been revealed by the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) in a statement on the performance of licensed CMOs in payment of royalties through the e-Citizen in 2023.

KECOBO said after meeting heads of MCSK, KAMP and PRISK, it learnt that despite the three CMOs collecting Sh249.7 million in revenues in 2023, they only paid royalties totaling Sh26 million.

“From the Information presented by the three CMOs themselves, KECOBO established that the sum of Sh249,687,212 was collected jointly from January to December 2023,” KECOBO stated.

KECOBO, however, identified that there were disparities in reporting of reported joint collections among the three CMOs, with KAMP and PRISK declaring a collection of Sh249 million, and MCSK declaring Sh139 million.

“The KECOBO Board of Directors noted that royalties were paid only from quarter one of 2023 collections. All the Societies did not set aside royalties from collections in quarters two, three and four despite the improved business environment,” the Board stated.

The law requires that CMOs should distribute 70 per cent of collections from artists’ works, which would have translated to Sh173 million last year.

“This is clearly not the case here.”

“A simple analysis of the amounts that would accrue to MCSK members were this revenue paid as the Copyright Regulations reveal that each artist could earn at least six times the amount paid during the year in royalties,” KECOBO added.

For instance, Otile Brown was paid Sh120,000 but KECOBO says the artist should have been paid Sh720,000.

Marakwet daughter, the famous artist behind Kalenjin hit ‘Mali Safi Chito’, was paid Sh108,123 but the ideal royalties should have totaled Sh640,920, KECOBO observed.

Gospel artist Reuben Kigame was not paid royalties totaling Sh612,050, and was only paid Sh122,410, while Solomon Mkubwa was paid a mere Sh74,138 out of the ideal Sh444,000.

The KECOBO statement showed that artist Rehema Lugose would have made the highest amount of Sh4.54 million during the year, but was only paid royalties totaling Sh797,092.

“From our analysis, we note that artists from some regions like the Coast, Nyanza and Central were underrepresented or left out completely. We shall demand explanations in this regard,” KECOBO stated.

MCSK

Music Copyright Society of Kenya CEO Ezekiel Mutua has fired back at the Kenya Copyright Board over claims that there were disparities in the monies collected as royalties for 2023 by the three Collective Management Organisations.

In a statement on Wednesday shortly after KECOBO chair Joshua Kutuny invited EACC and the DCI to probe the figures, Mutua said the criteria of distribution that would allocate artistes 70 per cent of monies collected is non-existent.

He said the distribution which started on January 25, is still ongoing and will run until March 29, 2024.

“While KAMP and PRISK declared a collection of Sh249 million and they accounted for Sh61 million and Sh52.7 million, respectively, MCSK on its part declared receipts of Sh109 million representing a shortfall of Sh26 million,” Kutuny said.

He added that MCSK presented a list of members who received royalties in 2023 but on review, the Board of Directors found the information presented was scanty and at variance with details on joint collection.

But Mutua termed the move as “sideshows” saying MCSK will issue a comprehensive report on the distribution upon conclusion of the distribution exercise on March 29, 2024.

In response to Kutuny’s claims that the collection of royalties for mechanicals was poor, Mutua said the biggest revenue stream for Kenyan artists is Skiza tunes.

“KECOBO we should clean that one too,” he said.

“When MCSK administered Skiza Tunes (Ring back tunes) it once paid an individual artist over Sh20 million. Why is KECOBO focusing on the imaginary misappropriation of Sh56 million when proper payment of Skiza Tunes would change the whole scenario and make artists rich? Why the sideshows?” he asked.

Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o has made history by taking over as the first black head of the Berlin International Film Festival jury.

The annual film showcase event, also known as the Berlinale, is one of the five largest global film festivals.

The event has not had a black jury head in its 74-year history, organisers told AFP news agency last year.

Nyong’o will lead the jury in selecting the winning films in the two main categories, Golden and Silver Bears.

The top five international film festivals – Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Sundance and Toronto – have often faced criticism for lacking diversity on their juries.

The biggest and second-oldest of these, the Cannes festival, only had its first black jury president in 2020, when American director Spike Lee was chosen.

At the opening of the event in Germany’s capital on Thursday, Nyong’o said she was “greatly honoured” to take on the position.

She added that the diversity of the jury would enrich the jury’s process of deciding on the films to award.

“That’s the beauty of bringing people together from different backgrounds – we respond to different things,” said the actress, who won an Oscar for 12 Years A Slave in 2014.

“We have a lot of world experience and opinion and it’s gonna be interesting. It’s probably also gonna be spicy.”

When Berlinale announced Nyong’o as jury president last December, the festival’s directors, Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, said Nyong’o was selected because she “embodies what we like in cinema”, through her acting versatility and ability to cater to different audiences.

The event will run until 25 February, when the jury announces the winning films in the major categories.

Three African entries are among the 20 competing for the top prize, and all tell stories from the continent.

They include Black Tea by Mauritanian-born Malian director Abderrahmane Sissako, Who Do I Belong To by Tunisian-Canadian director Meryam Joobeur and the documentary Dahomey by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop.

By Silas Nyanchwani

Memo No. 6 From The National Welfare Desk of Men

1. Don’t ever allow anyone, male or female to waste your time. You can never
replace lost time. So, cut off anyone who needs you at their convenience. However desperate you are, retain some dignity for yourself.

2. If you are in your 20s, and unmarried, postpone your marriage until you are at least 32. They say, that when you skip marriage in your 20s, you
have potentially avoided your first divorce. Marriage has a lot of material responsibilities and whoever tells you, “Anzia popote, mtasaidiana,’ is a
witch, report him or her to the nearest police station. Utaachwa ukisota. For real.

3. I saw this quote on the Twitter handle of ‘the Kelechi+ @_igwilo and it has been my mantra since 202: “What if it does work out exactly how you imagined it or greater? Entertain that thought.” Sounds brilliant.

4. Failure is a temporary stage in life. If you fail in business, marriage, or career, don’t let it define you. Be resilient. Bounce back. You can always go ahead to conquer.

5. Don’t be a loser. If you lose, retain some measure of dignity to help you rise from the ashes. Success is the only acceptable form of revenge.

6. Shower daily. Buy some nice clothes for yourself (no matter what). Buy some cologne. Smell nice. Also, use mouthwash from time to time. Visit a dentist once or twice a year. Sh 5,000-6,000 can do the clean-up if you don’t have insurance. Halitosis is an epidemic, in both men and women. That is just one mzinga and the shots you buy the girls who ditch you on a night out.

7. Always think positively. The mind is a powerful thing. Think highly of yourself (don’t get delusional, though), tell yourself you are strong and better, even when the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

8. Everyone is fighting their own demons. Be slow to judge or to draw conclusions.

9. You will always have haters. But as they say, the loudest boos come from the cheapest seats.

10. If you are young (under 32) and you make your first million now, spend it like it is the last one. Invest in the right stuff; a good house, some asset that can come in handy on rainy days. Don’t spend the cash on women or a good time. That is fleeting and you will regret it. The rule applies to older
people as well. Pesa huisha. Always invest wisely. Spend every coin like it is your last.

11. You may end up alone in your 50s. Make sure you have some money. Life will be more bearable and tolerable that way. Playing golf is better than ajua or draughts reminiscing about old glories.

12. If you are young, have male friends older than you, by a decade, at least. If you are 20, have good male friends in their 30s, 40s, 50s. Learn from their
best choices and fuckups.

13. Drink for leisure and pleasure, not to drown your pain. The car doesn’t know its way home, don’t be stupid.

14. Don’t buy the second mzinga, if the first was enough. Never measure balls
in a bar. Drink what you can afford, bro. Life is not a competition.

Some Notes on Women

15. Always chase high-quality/value women. Being a high-quality woman is not about money or her academic papers. Those are secondary. High-Value woman has a high IQ, has integrity, and dignity, was raised well, is cooperative, feminine, submissive, and supportive. Add empathy. In return, she gets your maximum loyalty, because you are her soldier.

16. As Brother Rollo Tomassi, reminds us, a woman should be a complement to your life, never the focus of it. She is a by-product of your success. Have
a higher mission, a higher purpose, and fix your frame.

17. If you are a married man, be a leader in your family. Marriage is a conservative institution. Being a leader doesn’t mean you become some abusive and authoritarian jerk, always lording over everyone. Just make sure you are
in charge. Women like leaders.

18. One of life’s surest guarantees is that a woman will break and crush your heart (whether when dating, during marriage, or even after divorce). Don’t let this crush you, no matter how old you are.

19. If she cheats on you, it is not the end of the world. Walk away and start over. Every morning remind yourself: She is not mine; it is just my turn.
Also, move on as soon as possible.

20. Don’t ever live with the fear of being left by a woman. Eventually, she
leaves. Always let her know that she can leave anytime. The one who wants to stay will stay. Also, adopt an abundance mindset. There are so
many beautiful, wonderful, intelligent women out there. Just open your eyes. Attachment is the source of male suffering.

21. If you lose your job, you will not be treated the same way by your wife. It is like that everywhere in the world. Hang in there and if the treatment gets
shittier, walk. You will be fine, son.

22. Always, weigh all variables before you marry a single mother {Will share a memo on the factors to consider before marrying one}

Final thoughts:

Each day, each year, you will receive a shock, a setback that sends you back to factory settings. It can be an illness, depression, divorce, job loss, or anything. Sometimes it is a pandemic. What it reminds you is simple: always have a backup plan.

Secondly, however dark the clouds are; however much the problems persist,
there is always a bright day ahead. But you have to have the hope, the faith that
the sun will shine again in your life.

Life is not a competition. Sometimes you are ahead. Sometimes you are behind. Just stick to your mission, believe in yourself, push yourself harder
and soon enough, shit starts to work right. Sometimes beyond your wildest expectations.

Popular Kenyan rapper Mejja has taken a firm stance against cyberbullying and impersonation, announcing that he’s reported a fake Facebook account using his name.

In a video, the hitmaker revealed that the imposter, involved in insulting his music industry colleagues, has prompted a two-week collaboration with detectives from the DCI to unveil the culprit.

Expressing concern, Mejja addressed his followers, stating, “There are people on Facebook using my name and saying sexual things.” The situation escalated with troubling posts implicating Mejja’s daughter and creating rifts with colleagues. Mejja emphasized the investigation, urging followers to recognize the imposter profile.

The imposter’s actions have escalated, with troubling posts suggesting a romantic relationship, even involving Mejja’s daughter.

“This person has crossed the line. They have posted sexual things about Ssaru over there and mentioned Kendi, Khaligraph, and everyone I have ever worked with. They are taking my pictures and using them on that profile,” shared a dismayed Mejja.

The artist went ahead and provided a link to his only official Facebook page on Instagram, cautioning fans against interacting with the said imposter account.

Rapper Mejja has taken a bold step against cyberbullying and impersonation.

The artist revealed that he has reported the pseudo-Facebook account bearing his name, which has been used to insult and bully his colleagues in the music industry.

Mejja disclosed that he has been collaborating with detectives for the past two weeks in an attempt to unveil the individual responsible for the troubling Facebook page.

Expressing his distress, Mejja pleaded with Kenyans, particularly addressing the intrusion into his personal life involving his daughter.

“I just want this person found because even using my daughter’s name to abuse me, that is below the belt, and again they are trying to create a rift between me and people I have worked with.”

The Kanairo hitmaker provided a link on his Instagram account to his only official Facebook page, Mejja Official Account, urging fans to be cautious.

By Silas Nyanchwani

{Young Men Please Pay Attention}

Over the weekend, I had a beer with a distant uncle who got divorced over the December holiday.

In his very late 50s, he is retiring later this year. He carried his belongings from the marriage in a polythene bag.

After nearly three decades of marriage, all he has is an unfinished house in the village, a Japanese job of a car that knows every road (and mechanic) in Kenya. He cut a stoic figure, relieved from a marriage he should have left over a decade ago.

In the olden times, when your wife kicked you out, you would pass by a supermarket, say Uchumi, order a huge serving of humble pie, and go back to your first wife that you used to despise. And if you had any manners or grace, you would be humble and eke it out with her, having learned your lesson. Some men lacked grace or manners; even when taken back by their long-suffering wives, they stuck to their old habits.

But nowadays, when 50+ middle-class man men are dropped, he is likely to end up alone, with liabilities and kids who don’t even like that much and a wife who will not even attend his funeral. We see these things every other day but treat them as isolated incidents. Yet every adult male who has lived in a city long enough has buried or will bury one such man.

And on Sunday, I was faced with such a case.

Three ironies played out in my head.

The first one, another good uncle, tagged along. This other uncle has lived in Nairobi since 1984. Every meeting we have, he has an anecdote of a male friend who walked out of his marriage with just his clothes. Some lived to tell. For some, their marriages ending, it was effectively over for them, and they faced a quiet and (un)dignified death, ignored by ex-wives and children who were too young to understand the complexities of urban marriages. But they (the children) will learn them in their time.

The second irony is that we were with a man who was a living example of the many discussions I have had with my other uncle about men and the paper bags they use to carry their belongings out of a marriage.

The third irony is that when I was 22 or 23, on campus, I wrote a feature about “Walk-Away Husbands” in the Saturday Nation. I was young, ignorant, and foolish. But I heard a story or two about men who walk away from their marriages. But back then, either this wasn’t commonplace, or I didn’t have all the facts.

Now, older, I know this is far too common. Most men have packed their few shirts, trousers, boxers, and pairs of shoes and moved from their South B or Lang’ata aboard to a bedsitter in Kitengela or Uthiru.

My distant uncle left a mansion in Syokimau, which he admits the wife built almost entirely with her money. He said that his wife had outearned him throughout their marriage, and he wasn’t bitter in any way. He said he didn’t want to be entangled or entitled in any property wrangles, and the only thing he owned was the unfinished house in the village, his old car, and his clothes. And he walked away in peace, according to him.

Being the young one, I couldn’t ask any further questions, like the possibility of remarrying. But I appreciated his candor and his permission to write his story. He told me he was not alone. A good number of his colleagues and friends are equally senior bachelors, or in marriages, they are unwanted.

He said he couldn’t undo the past. But he believed that younger men could learn something from his experience.

Which I can sum up as follows.

1. A woman can be part of your success plan if you succeed in life. With the exception of a few men whose success can make them foolish and abusive, a man’s success always means well for his family. This excludes frameless men who try polygamy or wreck it with a string of other women they can’t control.

However, as a man, you can’t bank on your wife’s success, especially if you remain stagnant in your career. Few women can put up with men they are more successful than. This is the case in Moscow, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Manilla, Mombasa, Melbourne, and even Tokyo. There will be academic arguments and a lot of all the beautiful English from the girl child empowerment, but the fact remains: a woman’s success is hers and her children’s. A man as a husband can only be part of it, contingent on so many other factors. There is a whole article in Yahoo Finance about how rich single women detest marriage in America. The very reasons they cite for their hatred of marriage are the reasons broke women marry rich men. But shifting goalposts is a game we can’t win against them.

2. This puts men in an awkward situation, and young men here are where I want your attention.
If you choose marriage, you have to put in a double shift. For your family and for yourself. For every coin you invest in your family, invest as much as in yourself. Most career women do this. Some career women financially abuse their men as they cater to themselves, and down the line, when the fortunes change, the man will be labeled as lazy and unambitious. For men, don’t hate the player. Hate the game.

My distant uncle didn’t have the means, seeing as he held a not-so-big civil servant job where he got comfortable.

Like him and so many men, his wife’s fortunes drastically changed for the better, and he hung around long enough to discover how it ended.

Whether you are an angel or an arsehole, the end is the same, except that arseholes can con the woman, or they lack manners and can fight for the property they didn’t contribute a coin to buy. Good guys are always shown the good old madharau until they pack and go.
Don’t wait for this, son.

3. Have options, kid.

Have an extra home, if you will. Have an extra wife(I am anti-polygamy), but increasingly, I am seeing the risk of putting your eggs in one basket. I have attended funerals where it is the kids from the baby mama who eventually buried the old man. Kids of the main family sometimes only stick around if there is property to be divided. Otherwise, if you are a liability, nobody cares.
Some men argue that they have as many children out there as possible and take care of them and ball with those who will play for their team down the line. I don’t necessarily approve of this, but I see its logic.

Between 30 and 60 (and the years run so fast, son), build a life of options. Not out of fear but out of the rational justification that the outcome of most millennial marriages is grim and men can only rescue themselves by some foreknowledge. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

4. Keep your siblings/cousins/parents/friends closer

Some married men lose themselves in marriage. Marriage can be sweet sometimes. If you love your wife. Her chapatis and adore your kids to death. You will want to be home early. Play with the kids. Do the assignments. Take them to church.

This way, some men lose friends, lose their family, and when in their 50s, now with their wife functionally tired of his s!mping around and the kids all grown into drugs or other vices, the man suddenly realizes he has no friends, can’t rekindle the old ones and he feels trapped.

Catch a beer with friends regularly. Show up for those weddings. Funerals. Hike. Drive around. Always retain a family or lots of friends you can always have fun with, in both good and bad times.

Men, our generation, don’t have to move out with paper bags. Move to your other house by driving your good car. Move on with life.

Don’t ever be caught unprepared with the knowledge we have.

Escape this by being financially prudent, stubbornly refusing to be financially abused, working harder every day, and having a plan. For yourself. And your family. Notice that order.

Otherwise, don’t be the man who wakes up to fins. The wife has proceeded to move to Canada secretly, and you are left behind, not knowing where to start or to go.

NB: Dear men, save me from this job, buy books from me and Jacob Aliet and read these things, man.

The writer is a published author.

Vin Diesel has been accused of sexual battery by his former assistant who claims he assaulted her in a Georgia hotel in 2010 when Fast Five was filming.

In a lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Asta Jonasson alleges the Fast & Furious star pinned her to a wall where he groped and masturbated in front of her. The complaint names Diesel’s One Race Films, which allegedly fired Jonasson in retaliation for resisting his advances and to have the “assault covered up.”

Representatives for Diesel didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Jonasson, who signed a nondisclosure agreement preventing her from discussing anything related to Diesel, attributes the filing of her suit to legislation barring enforcement of such contracts in certain instances and a California law reviving the statute of limitations for sexual misconduct claims until 2026.

Over the past year, plaintiffs have been taking advantage of a similar law in New York, the Adult Survivor’s Act, to sue major figures in the entertainment industry, including Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jamie Foxx and Neil Portnow. Companies owned by the accused have also been named in several suits for allegedly facilitating the assaults or negligently failing to oversee their directors and employees.

The complaint alleges a violent encounter at the St. Regis Hotel in Atlanta with Diesel in September 2010.

Jonasson, whose responsibilities included organizing and accompanying Diesel to parties to ensure no photographs of him were taken, says she was asked to wait in the actor’s suite while he entertained other guests.

Once they left, the suit claims he “grabbed Ms. Jonasson’s wrists, one with each of his hands, and pulled her onto the bed.” She says she “immediately tried to escape his grasp,” at which point she left the bedroom.

According to the complaint, Jonasson was followed by Diesel, who “dropped to his knees, pushed Ms. Jonasson’s dress up toward her waist, and molested her body” after he restrained her.

The suit continues, “Vin Diesel moved to pull Ms. Jonasson’s underwear down. At that moment, Ms. Jonasson screamed, and in a panic, ran down the hallway towards the bathroom, knocking Vin Diesel to the floor.”

After he stood up, the suit alleges that the actor “pinned her to the wall with the left side of his body, and again began to grope Ms. Jonasson’s body, including her breasts.” Diesel then “pulled his penis out of his underwear” and began to masturbate, per the complaint.

“Ms Jonasson heard Vin Diesel make groaning noises, then Vin Diesel quickly released her, went into the bathroom, and turned the sink on with the bathroom door open,” the complaint reads.

Hours later, Samantha Vincent — president of One Race and Diesel’s sister — terminated her, per the complaint. She allegedly told her in a call that the company didn’t need “any extra help” despite having the job for less than two weeks.

“The message was clear. Ms. Jonasson was fired for courageously resisting Vin Diesel’s sexual assault, Vin Diesel would be protected, and his sexual assault covered up,” states the suit, which notes that she “previously received praise for her work.”

According to the complaint, another One Race supervisor propositioned her days before the alleged assault. She was allegedly summoned to his room where he took off his shirt, got into bed and said “Come here,” at which point she left.

Jonasson brings claims for sexual battery, gender-based discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation, among others. She seeks unspecified damages for “humiliation, emotional distress and mental and physical pain.” Vanity Fair first reported the suit.

“Empowered by the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, and with the protection of the Speak Out Act and recent revival of her claims by AB2777, Ms Jonasson is unwilling to remain silent any longer and seeks to reclaim her agency and justice for the suffering she endured at the hands of Vin Diesel and One Race,” the suit states.

Diesel does not have any projects in production, but he and One Race are attached to produce an untitled Fast and Furious movie starring Dwayne Johnson.

That film does not yet have a director nor a start date, but it is expected to be the next Fast movie to hit theatres, to be followed by Fast XI, which would star Diesel and be a swan song for his character. 

He is also attached to a number of other projects, though it is unclear which will make it out of the development phase. Those include a new Riddick feature and a Mattel Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie from Universal.

Diesel starred as Groot in this year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and reprised his role of Dominic Toretto for Fast X.