Companies that used the Jerusalema Dance Challenge to promote their brands will have to brace up for an unexpected bill coming their way.
Entertainment lawyer Dumisani Motsamai who is in charge of Legal and Business Affairs for Open Mic Productions, a company Master KG is signed to, made the case known.
In his statement during an interview with KFM, Motsamai highlighted that although the dance challenge was used by almost everyone in the world last year, the challenge was never meant to promote any business agendas.
“We have followed the news that Warner International, our partners internationally. Has been taken to task by many people on social media, saying you guys are being greedy, we are doing this thing because of social (distancing), we are all down because of Covid’, and I think it’s quite on point.
“But there’ve been different versions of this challenge.
“That’s perfectly fine. But we’ve seen these challenges taking it a little bit too far, where really, what has been happening here is that people have been pushing their brands,’ said Motsamai.
He said for those who took the challenge for private use or fun or lifting up the nation then there won’t be any need for them to pay anything but for those who used the challenge to grow their brand visibility then surely something must be done.
“There has been a thin line. Some of them will n show their logo at the beginning and it’s all about the dance.
“But others, when you look at them, it’s all about their brand, the company that is doing the challenge and little about the change. Those are the ones that Warner and Open Mic have found,’ he said.
Motsamai also added that Open Mic had already identified a few businesses that used the challenge for brand visibility and will politely ask for their fees.
“We do owe it, not just to Open Mic, but to the people who were part of it. Open Mic owns the master, but we also have a duty to pay royalties to the people whose sound is embedded, whose performance is in the master, and in this case it is Master KG and Nomcebo,” he said.
Recently Warner had announced that TV stations who played the challenge will have to pay a certain licensing amount.
