The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK), a non-profit making organization for authors, composers, and publishers of musical works whose main mandate is to collect royalties in public performance and broadcasting on behalf of its members and to distribute the same to its members has been facing a lot of criticism over its operations.
Business entities have accused MCSK staff of harassment, intimidation and alleged extortion forcing Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai to ban police officers from accompanying the staff in theor line of duty Mutyambai in a letter to DCI George Kinoti mentioned that his office had learnt that the Music Copyright Society of Kenya staff were colluding with police officers to extort money during raids a malpractice which has been tainting the name of the National Police Service.
“My office has learnt that members of staff from the Music Copyright Society of Kenya have been hiring police officers to offer security during their operations, and they have been extorting money from members of the public and using police officers as bait to demand more money.
“No police officer is authorized to accompany any Music Copyright staff while performing their operations,” said Mutyambai.
Among others copied in the letter were Deputy Inspector General Kenya Police Service Edward Mbugua and Deputy Inspector General Administration Police Service Noor Gabow. DCI also wrote to all senior staff informing them of the directive and reminding them of the effectiveness of the task.
This comes in a few weeks after Kenyan artists took to social media to over the ‘peanuts’ they were paid by Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) as royalty for their songs.
