ZAMCOPS Engaged ACRCloud for Radio Broadcast Monitoring on 13 February 2025. Two Months Later Its Own General Manager Said Fewer Than 15 of More Than 150 Zambian Radio Stations Were Licensed.

Deal sheet

Status

ANNOUNCED AND UNQUANTIFIED; GO-LIVE NOT ESTABLISHED. Announced 13 February 2025 in ACRCloud's own newsroom under a Lusaka dateline, with a named on-the-record quote from ZAMCOPS General Manager Mirrias Siamutondo. Independently corroborated on the counterparty's own domain: zamcops.org carries a site-wide footer credit reading 'Radio Broadcast Monitoring by' above the ACR logo, hyperlinked to acrcloud.com, with the logo asset served from zamcops.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ACR-Logo.png (HTTP 200, image/png), an upload path dating the asset to February 2025. The relationship is therefore publicly acknowledged by both named parties and still credited by ZAMCOPS as of 3 November 2026. Whether the system is operationally live, how many stations it covers, and whether any distribution has yet been calculated from its data could not be established from any source read. ZAMCOPS first told its members the monitoring system was imminent well before this engagement: its 2019 annual report (Chairman's report to the 18th AGM, signed Abel Musuka) states 'The music monitoring system implementation has reached an advanced stage and we are hopeful that it will be rolled out soon.' Its 2020-2021 annual report records the Chairman informing members 'that ZAMCOPS is in the process of introducing the monitoring system to monitor radio stations.' Its 2022 annual report records a member, Bishop Nga'mbi, asking at an AGM whether the monitoring system had been introduced and how effective it was, and ZAMCOPS answering: 'The monitoring system hasn't yet been put in place as owners of our broadcasting stations and the Ministry of Information are still in discussions over the same issue.' That answer identifies broadcaster and ministry consent, not technology, as the blocker, and no source read records that blocker being resolved.

Type

Licensing

Parties

Zambia Music Copyright Protection Society, ACRCloud

Amount

Zambian Kwacha (ZMW); no consideration disclosed in either currency Not disclosed. Neither ZAMCOPS nor ACRCloud has published a fee, a licence cost, a term, a payment structure or a station count for this engagement, and no figure appears in the announcement, on either party's website, or in any ZAMCOPS annual report this desk could obtain. The relevant disclosed figures are ZAMCOPS's own, from its last published audited accounts (year ended 31 March 2022): revenue K799,023 (prior year K853,584); other income K263,233; operating expenses K1,139,856; operating loss K77,600; accumulated loss K152,142; public performance tariff revenue K763,411; mechanical rights revenue K212 for the full year; trade and other receivables K3,225,290; cash and cash equivalents K96,209; Royalties Payable to members K3,182,293; auditor's remuneration K25,000; employee costs K619,031. In the same year ZAMCOPS reports distributing K884,773 to members. Its two earlier published distribution totals are K447,177 (2017) and K557,597 (2018). ZAMCOPS has published no annual report for any financial year after 2022, so there is no audited disclosure of what this engagement cost or what it changed.

Rights covered

No ownership, licensing or catalogue transaction. No master recording, musical composition, publishing right or neighbouring right is transferred, assigned or licensed by this engagement, and ACRCloud acquires no interest in any Zambian work. ACRCloud is a vendor of automatic content recognition: it supplies audio fingerprinting that identifies which recordings a monitored broadcast stream has played, matched against a reference database ACRCloud states holds more than 150 million tracks. What the engagement changes is the evidential basis for royalty distribution, not the ownership of anything. ZAMCOPS itself holds the rights it administers by assignment from its members: its own 2022 annual report states that on completing registration a member is issued a 'letter of membership/Deed of assignment and Clearance letter', against a one-off registration fee of K350 for composers, authors and groups and an annual K1,000 subscription for publishers. ZAMCOPS describes its mandate as covering three rights: performing, mechanical and synchronisation. It describes itself as holding 'monopolistic status' and as 'the only society that administers public performance, mechanical rights and synchronizing rights in Zambia'. Scope of the ACRCloud engagement, on both parties' own wording, is radio only: ACRCloud's release says monitoring runs 'across various Radio stations' and ZAMCOPS's site-wide footer credits ACRCloud for 'Radio Broadcast Monitoring'. Neither party names television, public performance venues, or digital services as in scope.

Territory

Zambia

Announced

2025-02-13

Primary document

Official newsroom

Sources

ACRCloud newsroom, 'ZAMCOPS Announces Partnership with ACRCloud to Revolutionize Broadcast Monitoring in Zambia', published 13 February 2025, Lusaka dateline. Live HTTP 200 confirmed and read in full 3 November 2026. An official press release from a named party to the transaction. Names ZAMCOPS General Manager Mirrias Siamutondo and quotes him directly; states the technology supplied is audio fingerprinting, the reference database holds 'over 150 million tracks', monitoring runs 'across various Radio stations', and the stated purpose is 'accurate and real-time Broadcast monitoring' and 'transparency and fairness in royalty distribution'. Discloses no fee, term, station count or go-live date. The release's own 'About ZAMCOPS' boilerplate contains a drafting error, reading 'With regard to improve on our efforts for Fair usage, We partnered with ZAMCOPS', which has ZAMCOPS partnering with itself; this desk records the error rather than silently correcting it, because it indicates the boilerplate was supplied or pasted rather than edited. · ZAMCOPS official website, live HTTP 200 confirmed 3 November 2026. Carries the site-wide footer credit 'Radio Broadcast Monitoring by' above the ACR logo, hyperlinked to acrcloud.com, logo asset at /wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ACR-Logo.png (HTTP 200, image/png). Also the source for ZAMCOPS's claim of 'monopolistic status' as the only society administering public performance, mechanical and synchronising rights in Zambia; for its use of the WIPOCOS database to allocate royalties; and for the statement that it 'is registered by the Office of the Registrar of Companies but is supervised by the Office of the Registrar of Copyright in the Ministry of Commerce as a Collecting Society, in line with the Copyright and Performance Rights Act no. 44 of 1994'. · ZAMCOPS Annual Report 2022, 38 pages, published by ZAMCOPS, HTTP 200, downloaded and read in full 3 November 2026. The society's most recent published annual report. Source of: the Chairperson's report to the 20th AGM of 12 October 2022 signed Gloria Kabonga-Siyazana ('While collections have dropped compared to the previous AGM report'; 'Income for the year 2021/2022 stood at K799,023 compared to last years of K853,584'; 'following the successful action regarding ZNBC, a total of K884,773 was distributed to members'); the ZNBC settlement position ('ZNBC has since paid all monies owed to ZAMCOPS up to 2013', with amounts 'owed from 2014 to date' still under engagement with the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry and ZNBC's administration); the AGM exchange in which ZAMCOPS states 'The monitoring system hasn't yet been put in place as owners of our broadcasting stations and the Ministry of Information are still in discussions over the same issue'; the statement 'ZAMCOPS is currently struggling with finances'; board sitting allowances raised from K400 to K800 per quarter with K2,000 for the Chairperson and K1,500 for the Vice Chairperson, and staff salaries raised by K1,000 across the board after no increase 'in over 8 years'; the registration fee schedule and the 'letter of membership/Deed of assignment'; and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 from which every figure in afw_deal_amount is taken. · ZAMCOPS Annual Report 2020-2021, 42 pages, published by ZAMCOPS, HTTP 200, downloaded and read in full 3 November 2026. Source of the outgoing Board Chairman's account of the prior intermediary agreement: 'The infamous africha agreement was ended on 14th January 2020. A major reason for my election was my promise to see an end to this agreement and hand the music rights back to the artists. We not only ended this but ended any other agreements that reflected this nature. We believe the artists must be responsible for their distribution on Platforms.' Also the source of the claim that digitised collection was 'directly related to a 22% growth in terms of collection in the year 2021'; of 'over 50% of the owed money has been paid' by ZNBC; of the Chairman informing members 'that ZAMCOPS is in the process of introducing the monitoring system to monitor radio stations'; and of the AGM minute recording that members 'were informed that a 30% administrative fee will not be deducted when distributing royalties from Africha'. · ZAMCOPS Annual Report 2019, 36 pages, published by ZAMCOPS, HTTP 200, downloaded and read in full 3 November 2026. Source of the Chairman's report to the 18th AGM signed Abel Musuka: 'The society also distributed a total of K447,177 in 2017 and K557,597 in 2018'; 'The music monitoring system implementation has reached an advanced stage and we are hopeful that it will be rolled out soon'; and 'However Africha and Spice contracts, notice of termination was served to both. SPICE contract terminated on the 30th of September this year while that of Africha will fully terminate with all content pulled out of the orchard by January 2020.' Also records members demanding 'answers to the Africha issue', a member committee being instituted to examine it, a committee representative named Ms. Ruth Simujayangombe delivering its report at an AGM, and members being 'informed that all broadcasting institutions will be compelled to produce log sheets'. Gives membership growth from 8,710 to 8,990 and names the entity 'THE ZAMBIAN MUSIC COPYRIGHT PROTECTION SOCIETY LIMITED'. · News Diggers! (Lusaka), 'Radio stations, bars top list of copyright violators – ZAMCOPS', by Peggy Mwansakilwa, 19 April 2025. HTTP 200 confirmed 3 November 2026; the article is metered and the quoted material sits in the freely readable portion, which this desk read directly. Two months after the ACRCloud announcement, reports the ZAMCOPS General Manager saying media houses and particularly radio stations 'top the list of copyright violators despite being the biggest users of music', and that 'out of more than 150 radio stations in the country, fewer than 15 are compliant, making it difficult to collect royalties'. Spells the General Manager's surname 'Siamukondo'. · News Diggers! (Lusaka), 'ZAMCOPS reports drop in traditional music airplay as foreign music takes over', by Peggy Mwansakilwa, 4 October 2025. HTTP 200 confirmed 3 November 2026; metered, quoted material in the freely readable portion, read directly. Eight months after the ACRCloud announcement, reports the General Manager observing local airplay 'dropping from 95 percent in the past to below 50 percent today' and saying 'the reduction in airplay has led to a significant drop in royalties paid out to artists'. Spells the surname 'Siamutondo'. · MoneyFM 93.7 (Lusaka), 'Zambia music artists warned on copyright infringement risks', by Cecilia Chiluba, 3 March 2026. HTTP 200 confirmed and read in full 3 November 2026. The most recent ZAMCOPS interview this desk could find. The General Manager urges artists to register works with ZAMCOPS and warns against unlicensed use of others' works. Makes no mention of the monitoring system, of ACRCloud, or of any distribution calculated from airplay data. · ZAMCOPS Annual Reports index, HTTP 200 confirmed 3 November 2026. Lists exactly seven downloadable reports, for 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020-2021 and 2022. Every PDF is served from a /wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ path. No report is listed or linked for any financial year after 2022.

Read this before citing: Nine points are recorded as open or unresolved rather than smoothed over.
(1) CONSIDERATION NOT DISCLOSED. No fee, term, payment structure, station count or go-live date has been published by either party. This desk did not infer one.
(2) ACRCLOUD'S LEGAL IDENTITY NOT ESTABLISHED. ACRCloud's own about-us, terms-of-service, privacy-policy and legal URLs were each fetched directly (all HTTP 200) and each returned the same homepage content, naming no registered company, company number, registered office or jurisdiction of incorporation, only cloud hosting regions. Its corporate owner and domicile are therefore not stated in this record.
(3) WHETHER THE SYSTEM IS LIVE IS NOT ESTABLISHED. The footer credit on zamcops.org shows an acknowledged, still-displayed relationship. It does not evidence operation. No source read states that any ZAMCOPS distribution has been calculated from ACRCloud data.
(4) TWO DIFFERENT TERMINATION DATES FOR THE PRIOR AGREEMENT. ZAMCOPS's own 2020-2021 annual report states the Africha agreement 'was ended on 14th January 2020'. Its own 2022 annual report states it 'was ended on the 20th of January 2020'. Two consecutive ZAMCOPS annual reports give two different dates for the same event. No source reconciles them.
(5) THE AFRICHA CONSIDERATION WAS NEVER PUBLISHED. ZAMCOPS's 2022 annual report records a member, Mr Don, asking at an AGM 'how much ZAMCOPS received from AFRICHA and why is the music still available online'. The recorded answer is that only a member committee set up to examine the matter 'were the only ones mandated to provide information' and had reported at a previous AGM. No figure for what ZAMCOPS received from Africha appears in any of the seven annual reports ZAMCOPS has published. The 30% administrative fee is the only Africha economic term this desk found in a primary document.
(6) 'THE ORCHARD' IS NOT IDENTIFIED. ZAMCOPS's 2019 annual report states Africha's contract 'will fully terminate with all content pulled out of the orchard by January 2020'. The phrase is lower-cased in the original and the document does not identify what 'the orchard' is. This desk does not assert that it refers to any particular named distributor.
(7) AFRICHA ITSELF COULD NOT BE INDEPENDENTLY IDENTIFIED. No website, registry entry or company number for the Africha entity, or for the separately named 'SPICE' contract terminated on 30 September in the same report, could be established. They appear in this record only as ZAMCOPS's own reports describe them. Zambia's company register is PACRA, which ZAMCOPS's own site names as its supervising registry; this desk did not query PACRA and has no verified public search endpoint for it.
(8) A COLLECTIONS CLAIM THAT RUNS AGAINST THE AUDITED LINE. ZAMCOPS's 2020-2021 report claims digitisation was 'directly related to a 22% growth in terms of collection in the year 2021'. Its 2022 report says 'collections have dropped compared to the previous AGM report', and the audited revenue line moves from K853,584 to K799,023, a fall of roughly 6%. No source read defines whether 'collection' in the chairman's report means gross licence receipts passing through to members or the society's own recognised revenue, and this desk does not resolve the two statements against each other.
(9) DOCUMENT-QUALITY AND NAMING INCONSISTENCIES IN THE PRIMARY SOURCES, recorded because they bear on how much weight the figures carry. ZAMCOPS's 2022 annual report is headed 'FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022' but its statement columns are labelled 2021 and 2020; its auditor's Other Information paragraph refers to a document titled 'financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021'; and the detailed income statement runs across facing pages headed 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2021. The auditor's report is addressed 'To the Shareholder' of a members' society. The AGM minutes in that report are headed as the 19th AGM 'HELD AT NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (NIPA) ON 12TH OCTOBER, 2021-22' and then carry a heading 'MINUTES OF THE 19TH AGM AND MATTERS ARISING' under which the General Manager reads 'the minutes of the previous AGM', so the internal labelling of which meeting is which is not self-consistent. The society's founding date is given three ways in its own material: 1994 on its homepage, 1996 on its about page, and 'inception in 1994' in a minister's speech reproduced in the 2022 report. Its name appears as 'Zambian Music Copyright Protection Society' on its website and in its 2019 report title and as 'Zambia Music Copyright Protection Society' in its audited financial statements and in ACRCloud's press release. The General Manager's surname appears as 'Siamutondo' in ACRCloud's release, in ZAMCOPS's own reports and in October 2025 and March 2026 press, and as 'Siamukondo' in April 2025 press.