{"id":16551,"date":"2026-08-09T16:05:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T16:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/ethiopia-about-to-pay-musicians-royalties-since-2021-five-most-streamed-artists-reissued-abroad\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T16:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T16:07:46","slug":"ethiopia-about-to-pay-musicians-royalties-since-2021-five-most-streamed-artists-reissued-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/ethiopia-about-to-pay-musicians-royalties-since-2021-five-most-streamed-artists-reissued-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia Has Been About to Pay Musicians Royalties Since 2021. Its Five Most-Streamed Artists Were Reissued Abroad."},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethiopia’s Intellectual Property Authority said in April that the country’s first working music royalty system is technically finished. The software is built. The launch is still pending.<\/p>\n

A start date that has moved for five years<\/h2>\n

Ethiopia’s copyright framework is Proclamation No. 410\/2004, amended in 2014 by Proclamation No. 872\/2014, which added the provisions for a royalty collection system, as Music In Africa’s country overview sets out<\/a>. A collective management body for music followed in December 2019.<\/p>\n

CMO means collective management organisation, the body that licenses broadcasters, bars and venues on behalf of songwriters and performers, then distributes what it collects.<\/p>\n

In July 2021, Daniel Fikadu’s Ethiopian law blog reported an agreement between the music CMO and broadcasters<\/a>, with payments due to begin that September. Lyricists, singers, melody writers, arrangers and producers were to share 20 percent of the revenues generated.<\/p>\n

In April 2025, Ethio Negari reported a 1 July 2025 start date<\/a> under Director General Woldu Yemesel, with media outlets paying up to 20 cents per song played or up to 2 percent of annual revenue.<\/p>\n

Then in April 2026, Capital Ethiopia quoted Deputy Director General Endalew Mosisa<\/a> saying the technical infrastructure was complete, including digitised professional records and automated distribution, with the authority in final consultation with broadcasters and entertainment venues before going live.<\/p>\n

The tariff is written for radio, not for streaming<\/h2>\n

Read those numbers closely. Cents per spin and a percentage of a broadcaster’s turnover are broadcast and public performance rates.<\/p>\n

They are worth having. They are also not the money a streaming service pays for a recording.<\/p>\n

DSP means digital service provider, the streaming platforms. A DSP pays the owner of the master through whichever label or distributor delivered it, on that contract’s terms, in that contract’s currency. No Ethiopian CMO sits in that chain.<\/p>\n

So the country can switch on a royalty system in full and still not touch the largest pool of money its music earns.<\/p>\n

The chart shows where the catalogue went<\/h2>\n

Addis Insight’s ranking of Ethiopia’s most-streamed artists on Spotify<\/a> put Mulatu Astatke first with 944,576 monthly listeners, then Hailu Mergia on 209,166, Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru on 186,980, Getachew Mekuria on 94,738 and Girma Beyene on 73,634. Teddy Afro, the biggest star inside the country, ranked sixth with 66,914. Rophnan sat ninth on 58,883.<\/p>\n

All five artists at the top are golden-age catalogue that reached global listeners through foreign labels.<\/p>\n