Lesotho’s only music royalty society holds money earned by unregistered artists for three years after it tells them about it, and after that it can spend the money on the wider creative industry. That rule, plus a registration form that asks for your song splits up front, decides who in Lesotho actually gets paid once distributions start.
LESCOSAA means the Lesotho Copyright Society of Authors and Artists. It is a CMO, or collective management organisation: a body that licenses music users, collects fees and pays rights holders. It was set up under section 31 of the Copyright Order of 1989 and established in 2021, according to the Lesotho News Agency (LENA).
Where Lesotho’s royalty pipeline stands
LENA’s August 2026 report put registrations at about 220 artists, out of an estimated 2,000. None had been paid yet, because LESCOSAA only began licensing in January 2025.
CEO Advocate Maema Chaka expected 2025 collection to close by the end of September, with matching and calculation after that. We found no public report of a first payout since.
- Tariffs: the Broadcasting, Communication to the Public and Public Performance Tariffs No. 114 of 2024, which LESCOSAA has been briefing police on.
- Published: 11 October 2024, per the US State Department’s 2025 investment climate statement.
- Licences: renewed yearly. One DJ told LENA he paid M2,300 for his annual licence.
- Reporting: licensed users must report what they played, and LESCOSAA distributes against those reports.
The three-year clock
If your music earns money but you are not a member, LESCOSAA cannot pay you straight away. Chaka told LENA the money is held while the artist is informed and allowed to register.
The artist then has three years to come forward. After that, the money “can eventually be used for the advancement of the creative industry.”
The clock runs from notification, not from when the song was played. Being easy to find matters: a working phone number, a public contact, a reachable manager.
What registration asks for
Registration costs a one-off M100. You also need:
- An identity document
- Banking details
- Details of each song and everyone who helped create it
- Next-of-kin details
The key line is about splits. “When people come to register a song with us, they come having already agreed on royalty distributions,” Chaka said. In his example, a song’s M100 could be divided between lyricist, composer and publisher, with another share to producers and performers where those rights apply.
If your collaborators have not signed a split sheet, the song is not ready to register.
Where the money may never arrive
Souru FM, a community station in Qacha’s Nek, told LENA it had no LESCOSAA licence. It assumed its Lesotho Communications Authority registration covered the music it played.
An unlicensed station produces no fee and no usage report, so there is nothing to distribute. Before counting on a station for royalties, check that it holds a licence.
Artists already with SAMRO
SAMRO means the Southern African Music Rights Organisation, South Africa’s songwriter society. For years, Music In Africa notes, Basotho artists had to join SAMRO to be paid at all. The singer Mants’a got his first royalties that way in 2010 and has now joined LESCOSAA too.
If you hold a SAMRO mandate, ask both societies in writing which rights and territories each covers, so the same song is not claimed twice.
Streaming runs outside the society
Chaka said the 1989 Order needs updating for digital use. For now, master royalties from Spotify, Apple Music and Boomplay reach Basotho artists through their distributor, not LESCOSAA.
That channel pays on delivery reports, and a distributor with split-level reporting can pay each collaborator directly. For what comes next, compare Eswatini’s first year of airplay logging, Botswana’s shift to local payouts and Namibia’s 62 percent cost ratio.
What to do this year
- Register now, while the 2025 pool is still being matched.
- Sign split sheets with every co-writer, producer and performer first.
- Keep contact details current so the three-year clock never starts unnoticed.
- Clear any SAMRO overlap in writing.
- Keep streaming income on a split-aware distribution account.
