A copyright review commission will start work in January to tackle the problem of South African artists who are not paid their due royalties by record labels, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Thandi Tobias-Pokolo said last week.

Citing the case of pop diva Brenda Fassie, Tobias-Pokolo said President Jacob Zuma was among those deeply concerned that local artists, especially musicians, "die poor".

So the government wanted to formalise the music industry to ensure that they earned a proper living "in a professional industry".

The six-person commission will be headed by retired judge Ian Farlam and has a mandate of six months and budget of just over R3million. It is expected to deliver a report with recommendations to Tobias-Pokolo at the end of June.

This article was originally written and published on Sowetan, click here and read the rest.

Follow this link to get to the original 'edited' version of this article on the MIO website: http://www.mio.co.za/article/probe-into-musos-royalties-2010-11-19