South African songwriters earn a mechanical royalty every time a song is streamed, and CAPASSO, not SAMRO or your distributor, is the body that collects it. A mechanical royalty is the payment owed to a song’s writer and publisher when the composition is reproduced, and streaming services owe it alongside the performance royalty.
The Composers, Authors and Publishers Association (CAPASSO) says collections grew 30% in its 2025-26 financial year to R269 million, with growth “dominated by audio and video on demand (VOD) streaming.” It distributed R235 million, according to its first annual newsletter, published in September.
Three claims on one stream
CAPASSO’s own FAQ sets out the division. It administers only the mechanical right. Performing rights sit with SAMRO, the Southern African Music Rights Organisation, and the master belongs to the label.
An Andersen briefing on Mondaq from May puts it plainly: “A single stream on a platform such as Spotify can trigger multiple royalty obligations at the same time.”
The FAQ is just as direct about distributors. CAPASSO does not put music on platforms, and pays mechanicals only once a song is already there. Your distributor pays master royalties. It does not collect this money.
CAPASSO’s licensed services list covers Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, Boomplay, Mdundo and Netflix. It also names Skywork AI, the developer listed behind the Mureka AI music generator.
What membership costs
The membership rules, as amended at the annual general meeting of 3 December 2024, set the terms:
- Fees: a R100 joining fee and R100 a year for a composer, R250 each for a publisher.
- Entry: membership starts only once you notify at least one work.
- Arrears: unpaid subscriptions are set off against royalties. After six months unpaid, you drop to “mandating rightsholder” status and lose your vote, but are still paid.
- Commission: 12.5% of gross licence revenue, plus VAT on that commission. At South Africa’s 15% VAT rate, that is about 14.4%, so R1,000 of streaming mechanicals pays out roughly R856.
- Timing: money from DSPs, meaning digital service providers such as Spotify, is split work by work and paid quarterly, in March, June, September and December.
The three-year clock
The rule that matters most is 6.9.1. Streaming royalties for a work whose owner is not a member, or cannot be identified, go into a suspense account for three years.
If nobody claims them, they are added to the next payout from the same DSP, where possible, in year four, “in direct proportion to the Member earnings ratio.” An unregistered song’s Spotify mechanicals end up paying the writers who did register. Lesotho runs a similar three-year clock.
Two shorter clocks run inside it:
- 30 days to answer a CAPASSO query on a notified work. After that, it “is entitled to relinquish such claim.”
- Exclusive digital mandate: you can resign on three months’ notice, but for digital rights it only takes effect when CAPASSO’s blanket DSP licences expire.
Chief executive Jotam Matariro made the same point to Music Week in 2019: “Without metadata, we will not be able to benefit from the licenses that we have put in place.”
What to do before the December run
1. Register every released work
Use CAPASSO’s works notification form, or CWR, which means Common Works Registration, the standard file publishers use to register catalogues in bulk.
2. Match credits to ISRCs
CAPASSO matches DSP usage reports to registered works. The writer names and splits you notify should match the credits your distributor delivered with each ISRC, the International Standard Recording Code that identifies a recording.
3. Check who gets paid
If you signed a publishing deal, royalties go to the publisher member, not to you. Confirm your publisher is a member and has notified your songs. Performance income is a separate claim; see our piece on SAMRO’s FY2026 cycle.
This is where delivery quality shows up in songwriter income. DDEX means Digital Data Exchange, the format distributors use to send releases to DSPs, and it carries writer credits with each ISRC. InterSpace Distribution delivers DDEX-native, so the names a DSP reports back match what you file. The CAPASSO registration is still yours to make.
