LILONGWE, Aug. 4 – Two of Malawi’s leading creative industry companies have called for an urgent overhaul of the country’s Blank Media Levy royalty distribution system after the Copyright Society of Malawi (COSOMA) disclosed that members had rejected a proposal to adopt digital data collection, opting instead to continue using records from CD and DVD burning centres.
The disclosure came during a nearly four-hour meeting held yesterday between COSOMA management, led by Executive Director Dora Makwinja, and representatives of Akometsi Ltd, led by Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Sulugwe, and Madness Entertainment, headed by Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Ngumuya. The two companies were accompanied by their lawyers, Henry Mvula and Ntchindi Chiyamwaka, while film industry representative George Nyale also participated in the discussions.
The meeting nearly ended before discussions even began after COSOMA challenged whether the two companies had sufficient interest to raise concerns on behalf of rights holders.
“There was serious tension in the room. Tempers flared and the meeting was on the brink of collapse barely three minutes after it began,” a source who attended the discussions disclosed. “Then Counsel Mvula took the floor. With calm authority, he steered the parties away from confrontation and back to dialogue, rescuing a meeting that many thought was already dead on arrival. It was a masterclass in leadership and diplomacy. The mood shifted almost instantly, and what followed was nearly four hours of candid, cordial and highly productive engagement.”
The biggest revelation came when COSOMA confirmed that its proposal to use digital consumption data for Blank Media Levy distribution had been rejected by members at an Annual General Meeting, who instead resolved to retain the existing system based on reports from licensed music-burning centres.
Critics say the decision leaves Malawi distributing billions of kwacha using an analogue system even as music consumption has shifted overwhelmingly to streaming platforms, YouTube and other digital services, raising concerns that the current methodology no longer reflects how copyrighted works are actually consumed.
In a Facebook post after the meeting, Akometsi Ltd Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Sulugwe argued that Malawi cannot build a 21st-century creative economy using 20th-century evidence adding that analogue methodology cannot fairly reward artists in a digital marketplace.
COSOMA also acknowledged that a 20% deduction reflected on royalty statements as an “administration fee” was, in fact, withholding tax that had been incorrectly labelled due to a system error. The society said it would correct the description on future royalty statements.
The two companies said they would hold a post-meeting review to map the way forward.
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