The mega Metro FM Awards bash held in Nelspruit over the weekend raised the ire of a number of music publishers. The awards event, described as “spectacular’, cost R10m to stage.
According to a report in The Sunday Times, the town was transformed into “Metro land’ and the radio station pulled out all stops to celebrate in style.
A music publisher was irate at the extravagance of the event. In an email to Screen Africa he questioned on behalf of music publishers in SA, how it was possible for SABC’s radio station Metro FM to spend such a large amount when “the SABC can’t afford to pay music organisations like Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA), National Organisation for Reproduction Rights in Music (NORM) or Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) the money that they are owed’.
He adds: “This also means our composers don’t get paid either. Once again musos are at the end of the food chain. Where would we be without music??’
