Recording artists are lead vocalists, backing vocalists, instrumentalists (guitarists, drummers, pianists, saxophonists, violinists,
keyboardists, etc), and studio producers who make a performing contribution to the recorded performance.
Recording Artists on sound recordings are divided into three categories: Featured Performer, Non-Featured Performer, and Other Featured Performer:
SAMPRA is a collective management organisation (“CMO”) that administers Needletime Rights on behalf of recording artists and record labels. In 2013, a co-operation and settlement agreement was reached between the old SAMPRA and the Performers’ Organisation of South Africa Trust (“POSA”), a CMO that administered Needletime Rights on behalf of recording artists.
The agreement stated that POSA and the old SAMPRA would merge to form one CMO (to be known as SAMPRA) representing record companies and recording artists in terms of Regulation 3(1)(c) of the Regulations on the Establishment of Collecting Societies in the Music Industry. The agreement also stated that the new merged CMO would have two chambers: the Performers’ Chamber, and the Record Labels’ chamber.
The new SAMPRA is governed by a board in which record companies and recording artists enjoy equal representation. The board of the new SAMPRA is, therefore, made up of six representatives from the Performers’ Chamber, and six representatives from the Record Labels’ Chamber.
In 2016, a new Memorandum of Incorporation (“the MOI”), that gave effect to the agreement signed between POSA and the old SAMPRA in 2013, was adopted to formally merge POSA with…