What’s new: R3m to make more SA songs
SAMRO will fund 120 members in 2025 with grants up to R25,000 to create new royalty-generating works — songs, albums, scores and videos. This year’s disbursement is R3 million. Since the fund launched in 2021, it has supported 540 members with over R13.5 million in total. Applications ran Dec 2024 → end-Jan 2025, drawing 615 submissions. To widen access, members funded by any SAMRO CSI programme in the past three years were ineligible for this round. Adjudication balanced artistic merit and feasibility with diversity and gender representation.
From grant to statement: make the money move
A grant creates the work — usage creates the royalty. Lock your credits, capture performances, and make your data easy to pay against.
What SAMRO pays (and when)
SAMRO pays performing rights to composers, authors and publishers when works are performed or broadcast in public — live gigs, radio/TV, venues, and the performance share of streaming. Payouts depend on reported usage (setlists, cue sheets, broadcast logs) and SAMRO’s distribution calendar. If usage isn’t logged or matched to your work, money is hard to route.
Why now: the pie is growing
More registered, used works means more share of a bigger market. Sub-Saharan Africa’s recorded-music revenues grew in 2024, and authors’ rights collections in Africa rose in 2024 as well. That tailwind only pays you if your works are properly registered and actually used.
Do this next to get paid
Before release, complete a split sheet (roles, percentages, PRO numbers, contacts). Register the composition in your PRO/publisher portal to obtain an ISWC, and link it to the recording ISRC (kept in your label/distributor metadata). After release, submit setlists, keep cue sheets for broadcast/AV uses, and track SAMRO distribution dates so you can reconcile statements quickly.
How Downtown helps (no label, no distro)
We’re the publishing plug: we help turn funded ideas into registered, royalty-ready songs — splits, ISWC↔ISRC alignment, cue sheets, and buyer-ready metadata. No guarantees; receipts over rhetoric.
Sources
- SAMRO — “SAMRO invests R3m in 2025 Music Creation Support Fund grants” (company-stated; South Africa; published 20 Jun 2025). SAMRO Newsroom.
- SAMRO CSI — Music Creation Support Fund (2025 recipients list & programme overview; South Africa; 2025). SAMRO CSI page.
- IFPI — Global Music Report 2025 (Sub-Saharan Africa section; covers 2024; published 19 Mar 2025). IFPI — Global Music Report hub.
- CISAC — Global Collections Report 2025 (Africa chapter; 2024 data; published 2025). CISAC — Global Collections Report.
