Sauti Sol's Bien responds to claims of losing 2,000 YouTube subscribers after Azimio scuffle

Kenyan musician Bien-Aime Baraza, the lead singer of popular boy band Sauti Sol, has hit out at critics over claims that the group has lost 2,000 YouTube subscribers after their scuffle with the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party over copyright infringement.

Sauti Sol on Monday threatened to take legal action against Azimio over the usage of its ‘Extravaganza’ hit song in a video unveiling the political outfit’s presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga’s running mate, Martha Karua.

A report has since surfaced online showing subscriber analytics of the band's page, revealing that they had 905,000 subscribers as of Monday, but had dropped to 903,000 by Wednesday.

Bien was apt to respond to critics in an Instagram post saying: "Time will reveal. Wale wanashuka washuke saa hii. Stage yao imefika."

The online confusion after Sauti Sol's shake up, has fronted responses from several parties, as the ODM party were first to respond saying that playing the song in their unveiling graphic was a gesture of admiration for the celebrated group. 

The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) said it has established that a third party is responsible for infringing on Sauti Sol’s rights, and not necessarily the Azimio political formation. 

The board claimed Azimio had obtained a public performance license which allows it to play both local and international music at its rallies.

KECOBO however said the public performance license does not allow the use of sound recording as a soundtrack with visual images in a film, video, television show, commercial or other audio-visual productions, as was the case when Karua was unveiled as Odinga’s running mate.

This, the body noted, would require a synchronization license which can only be issued by the composer and publisher of the works.

The Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) CEO Ezekiel Mutua later came out saying Azimio obtained all necessary licences to play both local and international music in their campaign shows and material.

According to Mutua, synchronization licenses are only issued by Collective Management Organisations (CMO) such as MCSK and not KECOBO, hence the copyrights authority should refrain from commenting on affairs that do not fall under its jurisdiction.

“We wish to clarify that we licensed the Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign for use of musical works in their campaigns as per the Copyright Law and gazetted tariffs. We are therefore shocked to see the confusion being caused by KECOBO over this matter,” Mutua said in a statement on Tuesday evening.