A musician has sued Safaricom and a marketing firm for allegedly refusing to disclose information on actual revenue collected for use of his musical works as Skiza tunes.
According to a report by Nairobi News, the artist by the name Philip Njoroge Kimani wants Liberty Africa Technologies Ltd and Safaricom to tell him how much money his music has made from being used as ringtones and ringback tones.
While the two companies consistently pay him monies, Mr. Kimani’s problem is that they have refused to allow him access to revenue reports, statements and data arising from the use of his copyrighted wrevenorks on the Skiza tunes platforms.
As a result, he claims that he has been deprived of the opportunity to verify the correctness of his accrued and remitted monthly pay.“The sued parties have failed, refused or neglected to reveal the Skiza tunes revenue statements despite numerous requests to do so in outright violation of the constitutional right to information,” his lawyer, Kimani Wachira, said.
The artist who has been on the platform since 2013 wants the two companies declared to have violated his right to access information, that the refusal is unjust and that they should be compelled to release the sought for information. He further wants to be paid unspecified compensation for violation of his right to access information.
Safaricom owns the Skiza tunes platform, which enables mobile telephone users to select and download ringback tones to their phones. It was introduced in 2008 and allows subscribers to customize their ringback tone on their Safaricom line by paying for any kind of music to serve as a ringtone.
The said marketing firm has a contract with Safaricom on content right licenses obtained from musicians for use on the Skiza tune platform.