Legendary musician Sello “Chicco” Twala has called on rap juggernaut AKA to return the money paid to him by IMPRA (Independent Music Performance Rights Association) whom he accused of corruption.Twala said he and the Fela In Versace hitmaker should pay back the money because they were overpaid by IMPRA. The I Need Some Money singer said this in text messages sent to artists this week as he moved his campaign to a higher gear to root out corruption in the music royalty collecting society.
“AKA and other artists who received lump sums from IMPRA, including myself last year, should pay back the money we received because it was way too much. This was done at the expense of other musicians just to impress the minister [of sports and arts – Nathi Mthethwa] that IMPRA pays more,” reads Twala’s text message.Although Twala did not disclose how much he and AKA received, allegations abound that he was paid at least R500 000 and AKA was paid at least R1-million last year. Twala told Sunday World that an audit should be conducted to determine how much he and AKA should repay. He also said some of the musicians, whom he did not disclose, will have to pay back the full amounts because their songs were not even played on radio and yet they were paid needle time royalties.
“The auditing process will determine how much we must pay back but, in reality, we have been overpaid. Some of the musicians might even have to pay back the full amount because they were not even played on radio in that period.”
Sunday World has learnt that the artists Twala said should pay back the full amounts include a well-known maskandi artist, whose music was not on high rotation in 2018, but was paid at least R450 000 and another artist, whose revolutionary songs were popular in the 1980s, who was also paid R150 000 despite his music not being played on radio stations.
IMPRA president Dodo Monamodi said his office would not disclose how much the artists were paid, citing confidentiality. AKA’s manager, Tshiamo Letshwene, told Sunday World yesterday that they will wait for the outcome of the audit before commenting on Twala’s claims about the money that he said was paid to South Africa’s rap powerhouse.
“The top 10 musicians, including myself, was just a scam. Also note that we did not know that IMPRA was a sham. We all thought the payments were playlist-based until I recently find [sic] out how IMPRA operated.” Twala also said more details about the corruption in the sector will be revealed when the law takes its course. “The rest will be revealed when the matter is brought to court. We also should not receive any royalties in the current financial year from IMPRA.”
