Prince Kaybee defends Master KG’s decision to bill local companies for using 'Jerusalema' commercially

25 February 2021 - 13:00 By Masego Seemela
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Prince Kaybee defends Master KG’s decision to go after local companies that used 'Jerusalema' commercially.
Prince Kaybee defends Master KG’s decision to go after local companies that used 'Jerusalema' commercially.
Image: Instagram/Prince Kaybee

Club DJ and music producer Prince Kaybee has backed fellow industry mate Master KG's legal team's decision to claim royalties from companies who used the hitmaker's song Jerusalema for their “own endorsements”. 

The club DJ revealed his views on Twitter where he agreed that some companies did not join the worldwide challenge because they loved the song but to hijack the global trend for commercial purposes. 

Kaybee added that those companies were getting international ad campaigns at zero cost.

In an interview with Capricorn FM, Master KG's lawyer, who also handles the legal and business affairs for Open Mic Productions, Dumisani Motsamai, explained the reasons why Warner Music SA chose to demand money from big companies who have used the global hit song for their “own capital gains”.

“We are in a partnership with Warner Music internationally and I think in a nutshell, the partnership ensures that Master KG finds an easy way into the market. 

“When a song is used as a sync for an advert those people who created it are paid something we call royalties. So, the calls for the licence fees in respect to the challenge is limited to those that clearly skipped the mark, and when you look at it you can see that this was more than a challenge – this was people who were pushing their brand full stop.”

Dumisani explained that determining whether a company used it for their own benefit or for the worldwide challenge was a bit challenging, but in some cases it was quite clear that they were adverts.

“Although some companies were answering the president's call to join the challenge and form unity, on YouTube you can see that there are other companies who skipped the red robot and used it for their capital gain.”

Dumisani also spoke to Newzroom Afrika where he explained in-depth how the copyrights act works. 

The decision to claim money from companies who used Jerusalema for capital gain landed on the Twitter trends list on Wednesday night. 

Here are some of the reactions: 


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