So, you’ve landed a solid gig. You’ve curated your repertoire, and then your client asks, “Can you play that one from Brenda Fassie …Vuringera or something like that? My boss loves it.” So, can you learn the song and play it live on stage with no consequence?
At times, a cover song perfectly matches the mood. Plus, I genuinely believe it is a good thing to keep other people’s music alive when it works for the set. I’ve personally performed the music of the late, great Jackson Kaujeua, and I’ve had to ask myself: what exactly is required? Can the lawyers come in and enlighten us all here? What is required to take someone else’s masterpiece and perform it on stage?
I spoke to a well-read person, and they told me that when you perform a cover song live, you are engaging in a “public performance” of a copyrighted work. If you’ve spent any time reading the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act of 1994, you might immediately think you need to draft a legal contract just to sing the chorus.
Take a deep breath, though. The law is actually on your side here.
In Namibia, the responsibility for securing a public performance license or a live event license falls squarely on the venue or the event organiser, not the performing artists. Nascam (Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music) collects these annual or per-event fees directly from pubs, restaurants and festival organisers. They then have to distribute the royalties to the owners of the music. These can be the original songwriters themselves or the owners of the estate of the deceased.
Our neighbours in South Africa operate on the same principles. Samro, the Nascam of South Africa, requires the venue to hold a licence. This then shields the live performer from liability.
So, if you sing a Jackson Kaujeua classic at a local lounge, the lounge owner’s Nascam licence covers the legal requirement. You do not need to pay out of pocket to perform it.
Here is where the system gets hilariously bureaucratic. The venue paid for the licence, and you played the song. But how does Nascam know they need to pay Jackson Kaujeua’s estate?
Well, they don’t, unless you tell them.
This requires submitting an accurate setlist (a performance return) to the venue or the collection society after the gig. I once watched a brilliant local artist dutifully write out their setlist, which included three covers, on a branded beer napkin, hand it to the venue manager, and watch in slow motion as the manager used it to wipe spilt Windhoek Lager off the bar counter. If your setlist doesn’t make it to Nascam, the royalty money just goes into a general distribution pool. So, to truly honour the original artist legally, make sure that the setlist actually reaches the right administrative office.
Legalities aside, what about professional courtesy? We don’t have a rigid, tested legal precedent in Namibia for an artist getting sued over a live, unlicensed cover yet. This is mostly because the collection societies chase the venues, not the singers. But we, the creative community, operate on respect.
If the original artist is alive, tell them you’re gigging their song. If they have passed on, the courtesy happens on stage. You can at least give a shoutout or frame the song with “I want to pay tribute to Tate Kwela, who paved the way for us.”
If the client’s request fits your artistic vibe and the event’s atmosphere, do it. Just ensure the venue has their Nascam matters sorted, submit your setlist, and give the original creator their flowers.
