Deal sheet
- Status
- NASCAM'S BOARD CHAIR SAID IN JULY 2026 THAT CUTTING ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS FROM 62 PERCENT TO 30 PERCENT OF COLLECTIONS WOULD LET IT DISTRIBUTE 70 PERCENT TO RIGHTS HOLDERS. NO SOURCE CHECKED STATES WHAT SHARE IT DISTRIBUTES NOW.
The Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (NASCAM) is Namibia's sole body recognised under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994 to collect and distribute music royalties; it describes itself, on its own site, as Namibia's only Collective Management Organisation.
THE COLLECTION RECORD. Two disclosed totals exist and they are not for the same period. The Business and Intellectual Property Authority's own June 2025 consultation document, citing NASCAM, states that N$9,321,914.95 was collected in royalties over the twelve years from 2010 to 2022, and distributed to an estimated 26,562 Namibian artists registered with NASCAM. Separately, NASCAM chief executive Albert Nicanor told reporters, in a report published 11 February 2025, that N$13,330,698 had been collected in royalty payments from music users for the 2023/24 financial year alone, more than the entire twelve-year total reported for 2010-2022, if both figures are accurate. Nicanor gave no figure for what had been distributed from that year's collection, saying only that "the royalty distribution process is currently underway," and cited a lack of capable human resources, manual processes and funding as challenges.
THE RATE DISPUTE (25 FEBRUARY – 2 MARCH 2026). Member of Parliament Frederick Shitana, raising the issue at a Business and Intellectual Property Authority workshop on Namibia's draft copyright bill, said Namibian musicians were earning "as little as N$2 per broadcast play," a rate he said had remained unchanged "since independence" in 1990, and called it insulting. The same report states that questions sent to NASCAM's then interim chief executive, Ferdinand Gertze, about the rate and about royalty distribution had not been answered by the time of publication. One week later, in a report published 2 March 2026, Gertze did respond, as NASCAM's acting chief executive: "The N$2 per play figure is not a set rate." He said the amount is calculated by dividing the year's total distributable royalty pool across verified broadcaster airplay logs through an automated system, Cosis Net, with "each song" receiving "an equal allocation per play within the relevant distribution pool," and acknowledged that existing legislation falls short on digital platforms and payments. Neither Shitana nor Gertze put a figure on how large that distributable pool actually is, so the dispute was conducted, on both sides, without the number that would resolve it.
THE GOVERNANCE RECORD (29 JUNE 2026). At NASCAM's elective annual general meeting, members retained the sitting board for a full three-year term and endorsed governance, operational and member-welfare reforms, including the appointment of regional field inspectors. Board chairperson Joseph Ailonga said a regional inspection tour of Kavango East, Kavango West, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi had found widespread non-compliance among commercial music users, with some "not paid or been invoiced for up to three consecutive years." Members approved stricter collection and payment policies in response.
THE COST DISCLOSURE (11 JULY 2026). Six weeks later, Ailonga, now confirmed as board chairperson, gave reporters NASCAM's current administrative-cost ratio for the first time found in any source checked: 62 percent of collections. He set a target to raise annual revenue to N$15 million within two years while capping operating expenditure at N$6 million, which he said "would let Nascam distribute 70% of its collections to rights holders." Read against the 62 percent figure he gave in the same report, that target implies NASCAM's rights holders are not receiving anything close to 70 percent of collections under the current structure; no source checked states the actual current distribution share, and this record does not assert a specific number for it beyond what the 62 percent admin-cost figure implies is left over before other deductions.
NET FINDING. Four named officials, across three different capacities (chief executive, acting chief executive, board chairperson) and nineteen months of reporting, gave four figures: a twelve-year collection-and-distribution total, a single-year collection total roughly 1.4 times larger than that twelve-year total, a disputed per-play rate, and an administrative-cost ratio. None of the four has been reconciled against any other in any source this desk could locate, and no source states what share of current collections actually reaches rights holders.
- Type
- Licensing
- Parties
- Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music
- Amount
- NAD Not a transaction amount. Four disclosed figures exist, from four different officials and reports, none reconciled against another: (1) N$9,321,914.95 collected in total royalties over the twelve years 2010-2022, distributed to an estimated 26,562 Namibian artists registered with NASCAM, per the Business and Intellectual Property Authority's June 2025 consultation document on a proposed copyright levy, sourced there to NASCAM itself. (2) N$13,330,698 collected in the single 2023/24 financial year alone, per NASCAM chief executive Albert Nicanor, reported 11 February 2025, with distribution for that year described only as "currently underway" and no distributed total given. (3) A reported per-play royalty of N$2, said by Member of Parliament Frederick Shitana on 25 February 2026 to have been unchanged "since independence" (1990); NASCAM's then acting chief executive Ferdinand Gertze responded on 2 March 2026 that this is not a fixed tariff but an output of the total distributable pool divided by verified airplay logs through an automated system, Cosis Net. (4) An administrative-cost ratio of 62 percent of collections, stated by board chairperson Joseph Ailonga on 11 July 2026, alongside a target to cut that ratio to 30 percent and raise annual revenue to N$15 million within two years, which he said "would let Nascam distribute 70% of its collections to rights holders." No source checked states what share of collections NASCAM distributes to rights holders today.
- Rights covered
- STATUTORY COLLECTING-SOCIETY COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION RECORD ONLY. No master recording, composition or publishing right changes ownership, or is assigned, licensed, administered or distributed differently as a result of anything recorded here. This records what Namibia's sole recognised copyright owners' collecting society has said it collects and the terms on which its own chairperson has described its cost structure, against the statutory duty to distribute imposed by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994 (as amended by Act 8 of 2016). Section 56(3)(b) conditions NASCAM's recognition on its constitution adequately providing for "the collection on behalf of, and the accounting and distribution to, its members of royalties or other remuneration." Section 58(1) requires it to keep accounts showing both what it collects and "the manner in which such royalties…has been distributed or otherwise applied," audited annually under section 58(2). Section 59 lets BIPA's Board withdraw recognition if NASCAM is "failing in its duty towards its members" under section 56(3)(b), or fails section 58, after 21 days to make written representations. It is not a rights transaction.
- Territory
- Namibia
- Announced
- 2026-07-11
- Primary document
- Trade press
- Sources
- The Namibian, "Nascam Board Vows to Boost Royalties," by Otto Gotlieb, published 11 July 2026. THE COST DISCLOSURE this record turns on: board chairperson Joseph Ailonga states NASCAM's administrative costs at 62 percent of collections, sets a target to raise annual revenue to N$15 million within two years while capping operating expenditure at N$6 million, and says this would let NASCAM "distribute 70% of its collections to rights holders." Fetched and read in full. · AllAfrica, republishing The Namibian, "Namibia: MP Shitana Slams N$2 Royalties," published 25 February 2026. THE RATE CLAIM. Carries MP Frederick Shitana's statement that Namibian musicians earn "as little as N$2 per broadcast play," unchanged "since independence," and the article's own note that questions sent to NASCAM's then interim chief executive Ferdinand Gertze had not been answered by publication. Fetched and read in full. · The Namibian, "Nascam Defends N$2 Royalty Rates," published 2 March 2026. THE RATE RESPONSE. Carries acting chief executive Ferdinand Gertze's on-record reply that the N$2 figure "is not a set rate," his description of the automated Cosis Net distribution system dividing the distributable pool across verified airplay logs, and his acknowledgment that existing legislation falls short on digital platforms and payments. Fetched and read in full. · The Namibian, published 11 February 2025. THE SINGLE-YEAR COLLECTION FIGURE. Carries chief executive Albert Nicanor's statement that NASCAM collected N$13,330,698 in the 2023/24 financial year, that "the royalty distribution process is currently underway," and his citing of human-resource, process and funding challenges. Fetched and read in full. · AllAfrica, republishing The Namibian, published 29 June 2026. THE GOVERNANCE RECORD. Carries the outcome of NASCAM's elective AGM: the board retained for a three-year term, board chairperson Joseph Ailonga's account of a regional inspection tour of Kavango East, Kavango West, Otjozondjupa and Zambezi finding commercial users unpaid or uninvoiced "for up to three consecutive years," and member approval of stricter collection policies and regional field inspectors. Fetched and read in full. · Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA), "Consultation Document on Proposed Copyright Levy System in Namibia," dated June 2025. THE TWELVE-YEAR TOTAL. States, citing NASCAM, that N$9,321,914.95 was collected in royalties between 2010 and 2022 and distributed to an estimated 26,562 Namibian artists registered with NASCAM. Fetched as a binary PDF and extracted with pypdf; read in full across 32 pages. · Legal Assistance Centre (Namibia), annotated statute text of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994, incorporating amendments through Act 8 of 2016. THE STATUTORY TEXT. Sections 55-59 define a "copyright owners' collecting society," set recognition conditions including the duty under section 56(3)(b) to provide for "the collection…and distribution…of royalties," require annual audited accounts under section 58, and let BIPA's Board withdraw recognition under section 59 for failure in either duty. The 2016 amendment substitutes "Board" (BIPA's Board, defined in the Act) for "Minister" throughout this Part. Fetched as a binary PDF and extracted with pypdf; read in full across 40 pages. · NASCAM's own site, "About" page. Self-description as "established in 1993 under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994" and as Namibia's only Collective Management Organisation; names no current chief executive or board chairperson. Fetched and read in full. · NASCAM's own site, "Royalty Payments" page. States that "a percentage share of the collection is payable to the Authors, Composers and Publishers of the music use," without stating the percentage, a distribution schedule or any deduction rate. Fetched and read in full.
Read this before citing: WHAT COULD NOT BE ESTABLISHED, STATED PLAINLY:
(1) NO CURRENT DISTRIBUTION SHARE. No source checked states what percentage of money NASCAM collects today is actually paid out to rights holders. The 62 percent administrative-cost figure and the 70 percent future target, both from board chairperson Joseph Ailonga's own July 2026 statement, are the closest approximations available, and they are not the same measurement: a cost ratio is not necessarily the inverse of a distribution ratio, since other deductions (reserves, levies to foreign societies, bad-debt write-offs) could sit between the two. This record does not assert a specific current distribution percentage.
(2) THE TWO COLLECTION TOTALS ARE NOT RECONCILED. The Business and Intellectual Property Authority's consultation document states N$9,321,914.95 collected over 2010-2022 (twelve years); NASCAM's own chief executive is reported, in February 2025, giving N$13,330,698 for the single year 2023/24. If both figures are accurate as reported, annual collection grew sharply between the two periods, which is plausible given reported new licensing categories (telecoms, satellite, hospitality), but no source checked explains the jump, and no source gives a year-by-year breakdown that would let this desk verify it independently.
(3) WHY LEADERSHIP CHANGED BETWEEN NICANOR AND GERTZE IS NOT STATED. Albert Nicanor is named "chief executive" in a report dated February 2025. Ferdinand Gertze is named "interim" chief executive in a report dated February 2026 and "acting" chief executive in a report dated March 2026. No source checked explains what happened to Nicanor or when the change occurred.
(4) FOUNDING-DATE DISCREPANCY. NASCAM's own site states it was "established in 1993 under the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994," a year before the Act it cites as its legal basis was passed. This record does not resolve the discrepancy; NASCAM may have operated informally before formal recognition under the Act, but no source checked confirms that explanation.
(5) WHETHER NASCAM IS NAMIBIA'S ONLY RECOGNISED COLLECTING SOCIETY IS NOT FULLY SETTLED. NASCAM's own site and the 2025 BIPA consultation document both describe it as Namibia's only Collective Management Organisation. One academic paper located in the course of this research states, without a date attached to the claim, that Namibia presently has two such societies; this desk could not identify a second body from any other source and treats the undated claim as unconfirmed.
(6) NO RIGHTS CHANGED HANDS. This record documents a statutory collecting society's collection activity and its own officials' public statements about cost structure and distribution timing. No master recording, composition or publishing right is owned, assigned, licensed, administered or distributed differently as a result of anything recorded here.
