Both Samro & Risa play a huge role in an artist‘s musical career, However a lot of up and coming artists do not understand what exactly these organizations do and why they need to register with them , I will try explain in simple terms what both these music organizations do.
What Risa Does?
Risa stands for Recording Industry of South Africa, Its main responsibility is to track the sales and radio play of your recordings. This is done by the means of an ISRC code which in simple terms is like the registration plate of a song. Therefore if you looking at earning royalties from radio or TV then you definitely need to visit RISA offices to apply for an IRSC code for your company‘s music. Radio stations, TV etc use this code to track when they play your song and how many times it was played thus each song has its own IRSC code.
E.g. it’s like when you pass a speed trap while over speeding; Traffic cops are able to send you a fine because they captured your number plates. Similar system with music, Samro is able to pay out royalties if radio stations and other music users have captured your ISRC code every time they played your song. So Risa is very crucial in you earning royalties.
How you register with Risa
Download the ‘ISRC First Owner Code Application Form’ and once completed submit to Risa offices in Braamfisher Dr, Randburg. It only takes 48 hours for them to generate an ISRC code for your music. The only thing they’ll need from you is your Company registration, proof of business address in the form of a bank statement, utility bill etc.
What Samro Does?
The main thing that Samro does in simple terms is that they administer music royalties .They essentially keep a database of songs that have been played by different broadcasters or any venue, business or person that plays background, recorded, or live music in public. They administer this through cue sheets that are sent to them and they pay royalties according to this.
E.g. Metro FM has a record of all the songs that it has played in a particular month and how many times those songs were played. So all other radio stations, TV channels, Cinemas etc also have these records and they have to send them to Samro so Samro can effectively distribute royalties accordingly.
Registering with Samro
I won’t go into a lot of details in this post as I’ve explained this in detail in a previous post that can be found on this link .
Therefore you need to be acquainted with both organizations if you’re in the music industry as Samro is able to pay royalties because radio stations for example are able to keep track of how many times they play your music through the use of the ISRC code from Risa.
