The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) says it has started collecting royalties on behalf of its members from TikTok, Facebook and Netflix after concluding licensing agreements with the popular digital platforms.

This is a major step towards adapting its licensing and royalty payments to the ever-changing technological landscape, the organisation said.

Samro chairperson Nicholas Maweni said: “Thanks to the conclusion of these binding agreements, Samro will be able to collect royalties on behalf of members for all copyright-protected content that features on these platforms with immediate effect.”

Maweni said before the conclusion of the ground-breaking deals, platforms such as Facebook prohibited the use of copyright-protected content on their networks.

“This deal is going to enrich these platforms through the use of highquality content produced by our members while at the same time broadening the scope and usage of member content,” he said.

“The technological evolution we are experiencing is a welcome development as it creates new avenues through which the public can experience creative works while at the same opening up new opportunities for our members.”

Samro’s deals with TikTok, Netflix and Facebook follow an existing arrangement with the search engine Google.