The South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) has for many years charged independent schools a licence fee for the use of any and all music used during teaching and learning, as well as a variety of other school activities.
ISASA has tried, without success, to engage with SAMRO on the reasonableness of the licence fees charged to independent schools, as many of its member schools were concerned that they were unreasonably high.
In light of these unsuccessful attemtps to ensure that licensing fees are reasonable and applied uniformly to public and independent schools, in late 2022 the matter was escalated to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) as a regulatory body over the education sector.
The National Alliance of Independent Schools (NAISA) has confirmed that the DBE has since been engaging with, and advised, SAMRO to discontinue its collection of fees from schools as their music usage was in the furtherance of educational objectives and purposes.
Download the ISASA memoranda for additional information:
