A screenshot of a message shared by Kenyan rapper, Khaligraph Jones, on Wednesday morning, sparked a national conversation.
The M-Pesa message shows an amount sent to the award-winning hip hop artist, from the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK).
"You have received Ksh 2,530 plus the withdrawal fee from MCSK on 13/8/19 at 7:32 pm," read an excerpt of the message.
An irate Khaligraph blasted the authority mandated to ensure that artists got their royalty fees, citing the meagre amount as an insult.
"Msijaribu kunitumia izi peanuts tena. In fact, I have given authorization for my music to be pirated, don't collect money on my behalf anymore," he reiterated via his Instagram page.
MCSK is tasked with collecting royalty on behalf of authors, composers, arrangers and publishers of musical works.
However, speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Khaligraph revealed that this was the first time he had received payment from MCSK, adding that none of the artists who actually put in hard work every single day, actually knew the criteria the authority used to tabulate their figures.
He also revealed that the amount received allegedly covered up to 2-3 years of work.
"It's just that I'm travelling right now, I'm actually on a plane right now. But when I come back, I'm bringing the heat. Remember what we did with #PlayMusicKE? That's exactly what we'll do, we need to start a conversation,"
This sparked a heated conversation across various social media platforms, with musicians and fans alike lashing out at MCSK, for what they termed as total exploitation.
The Leave Me Alone hitmaker's move to ban MCSK from collecting his dues, comes barely a week since celebrated Femcee, Wangechi, of the Sana Sana hit song, posted her own message from MCSK.
King Kaka, the genius behind Dundaiing and countless other top songs, also received the same amount as Khaligraph, going on to Twitter to question MCSK's dealings.
"So MCSK sends everyone Kshs 2500 * 15k members, that’s Ksh37M, are you sure that’s all you collected," he posted.
Here are a few more screenshots from the heated online conversation :
