Major changes at Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO) as new consortium buys it from Samro

In an exclusive interview with CITYLIFE/ARTS, Lazarus Serobe its managing director assures the sector that the organisation is in safe hands.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

 A new consortium made up of sector members of DALRO has taken over the ownership of the multi-purpose copyright organisation, the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO).

And according to the organisation’s current managing director and who is also a member of the new consortium and led the discussion leading to the buy-out of DALRO from Samro, respected lawyer and business leader in the entertainment sector, Lazarus Serobe, the organisation is in safe hands.

“I think that the organisation is in safe hands because the new owners of DALRO are the sector members themselves who have an interest in the organisation. It is the four sectors that are part of DALRO (The consortium comprises Publishers’ Association of South Africa, Visual Art Network of South Africa,  the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa, as well as the 12 staff members of DALRO).

 DALRO is a member based organisation representing the different sectors that it serves. Some of the prominent creatives that are members of DALRO include academic and respected playwright Malcolm Purkey, and award winning visual artist Blessing Ngobeni a trail blazer in contemporary art in the country, among many others in different sectors of that are served by DALRO. The new owners promise to take the organisation forward into the future as they plan to make its services known to more creators and users of these creative works..

Speaking to CITYLIFE/ARTS in an exclusive interview, Serobe in fact reaffirmed that that the future looks bright for the organisation under the consortium.

The multi-purpose copyright organisation – which focuses on administering copyright for dramatic and artistic works including plays, musicals and visual arts and for literary works such as books, poems, newspaper articles – was established in 1967.
 
It was originally a subsidiary of SAMRO (the Southern African Music Rights Organisation) but negotiations to sell it to a management consortium, led by Serobe, were concluded in 2020.  The shareholders now include the staff and rights holder associations that are affiliated to DALRO.
 
Serobe is a lawyer who was appointed MD of DALRO in 2014.  He believes the DALRO shareholding change is significant in that: “DALRO has moved from being a sideshow for music composers to being a core area of importance and control for authors, publishers and visual artists.
 
“The ultimate beneficiaries of DALRO are now the owners of dramatic, literary and visual art copyrights who get participation and control in DALRO and get to determine its destiny and have a say in how, and under what circumstances, their rights get used.”

Serobe revealed that until August this year when the buy-out was completed, DALRO was 100% a subsidiary of the Braamfontein based royalty collection organisation looking after the interests of composers, Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO). DALRo has always been self-sustaining and profitable within Samro, added Serobe.

However from a public perspective, not much was known as much as it should have been about the organisation’s activities and purpose under this arrangement.

“Yes it is a correct observation to suggest that till now not many people knew about the important work that DALRO does in representing the relevant sectors regarding copyright protection and making sure that creatives such as playwrights, writers, and visual artists  get to benefit from their works from third parties who may want to use their published works. In fact DALRO was not widely known even within the sectors themselves. Now we are carrying out a campaign to let the relevant people, such as authors, playwrights and visual artists, as well as users aware of the services DALRO offers,” Serobe told CITYLIFE/ARTS through Zoom while travelling overseas on business. This campaign includes the revamping of its website.

“We now have an educational aspect of DALRO on the website whereby we inform the people about what services are offered and for authors, playwrights and visual artists at what stage they should be interacting with DALRO to register their intellectual property ,” added Serobe.

 One issue that has been of concern to the creative sector in the past three years or so, is the Copyright Amendment Bill that is currently with the Council of Provinces after it has been controversially given a nod by Parliament. At the time there wer several concerns raised by the industry with regards to the new proposed law in general, and aspects of it in particular.

“It is true that the current Copyright Act needed to be changed as it is outdated, particularly when it comes to the reality of the digital world. There is no doubt about that. However DALRO has serious concerns about the Copyright Amendment Bill in its current form. We feel that the exceptions it contains, particularly when it comes to academic works is too broad. If they go through as they currently are, they will deprive authors of such work of their royalties and rights. We have serious concerns about that as DALRO. However the positive side to it is that first of all creatives such as visual artists will benefit from the residual sale of their work. They will now be entitled to royalties If, their works for example are resold, just as it is currently the case in Europe. And also corporates, such as the banking sector will now have to pay for using creatives’ works, whereas currently they do not under the current law. That is positive when it comes to the new proposed law,” he said.

Serobe also revealed to CITYLIFE/ARTS that the new DALRO under its new owners will have its first Annual General Meeting in which a new board will be put together.

“What will happen is that the sectors that are represented in DARLO will nominate people from their sector to be considered for a seat on the board. And so DARLO will have a new board this November,” he confirmed.

Who is Lazarus Serobe?

Serobe has worked mainly in the music industry as a respected executive as well as an activist for artists’ rights from a legal perspective.

He boasts solid academic background in law. He today is credited as part of a crop of black executives who transformed the music industry by holding senior positions as well as bringing taken for granted by the mainstream music industry, popular black culture in general and music of the youth in particular into the mainstream spectrum of the international recording companies. Among other executive positions, Serobe was CEO at Sony Music Entertainment Africa until 2005 and at Warner Music Gallo Africa from 2008 until 2010.  The Soweto born Serobe   holds a Masters of Laws – LLM in Intellectual Property Law (2022) from the University of Johannesburg, an LLB (1990) and a BA Law degree (1987) both from the University of the Witwatersrand.  He has also completed a Senior Executive Program, Finance for Beginners at the GIBS Business School.

 He joined Sony as legal and business affairs director when the company was launched in post-apartheid South Africa in 1995 and became the CEO in 2000. In 2005 he launched Heita Records, a joint venture with Sony, who later bought him out. Heita was a success from the get-go, launching brands such as Malaika and the late jazz musician Sibongile Khumalo. When he took over at Sony, he brought South African house and Kwaito Artists into the corporate fold.

DALRO’s new offices are located at Waverley Office Park, 15 Forest Road in Bramley, Johannesburg, and this move is part of the new changes as the organisation begins a new chapter of the business.

About DALRO

 DALRO is a multi-purpose collective management organisation (CMO) established in 1967.   As a CMO, DALRO manages and licenses copyright on behalf of rights holders and as an RRO, DALRO manages and licenses the reproduction of print and publishing works.  With over half a century of service, it has requisite track record, networks and reliability. DALRO licenses works, facilitates and grants permission for copyright users to reproduce works, collects fees and remunerates copyright-holders. It focuses on three areas of copyright: literary works, artistic works and published editions:

• Literary works include virtually every form of writing, in whatever mode or form expressed;
• Artistic works include all paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings and photographs; and
• Published editions refer to the typographical arrangement of a literary work or artistic work. Books, generally, contain two forms of copyright.  One is the copyright in the expression of ideas which usually belongs to the creator of the literary work and the other is the copyright in the typographical arrangement, which usually belongs to the publisher.

 
DALRO has experience in representing the rights of copyright holders (authors, playwrights, visual artists, publishers or the successors-in-title of all of the above). 
 
DALRO is an agency that grants local and international third party copyright users who want to reproduce a copyright-holder’s work, permission to do so, and collects royalties locally and internationally on behalf of the copyright holder. 
 
DALRO grants copyright users permission to use copyright-protected work while ensuring that copyright holders are remunerated by the copyright users reproducing their works.
Most countries have organisations, societies and agencies affiliated to international bodies collecting royalties and issuing licenses on behalf of copyright holders around the world.  These organisations have agreements with one another to ensure that copyright holders benefit through licensing in other territories. DALRO is one such organisation.

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