Deborah Fraser’s Family Still Waiting for Her Royalties 3 Years After Her Death: “We’re Struggling”

• The late gospel musician Deborah Fraser's loved ones alleged that they were struggling both financially and emotionally
• Fraser's son, Nkosana, accused his mother's record label of ignoring their attempts to communicate
• He also accused the record label of not being transparent despite Deborah Fraser's family's requests

The family of gospel musician Deborah Fraser say they are struggling after failing to receive any royalties from her music more than three years after her passing.

Deborah Fraser’s family is locked in a dispute over her royalties. In an interview with Sunday World, Deborah Fraser’s son, Nkosana, said the family was struggling financially. Nkosana accused his late mother’s record label, Universal Music Group, of giving the Frasers the silent treatment.

“We’ve never received my mom’s royalties, and we are struggling. What makes things worse is that Universal Music is not communicating with us. We’ve tried to reach out to them, but we are not getting any response,” Nkosana said.

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Sunday World reports that it has seen unanswered emails from Deborah Fraser’s family to her record label. In the emails, Fraser’s family was asking for financial statements and the gospel musician’s royalties.

In 2023, Nkosana said they approached Universal Music with Deborah’s former manager, Nontando Mafisa, seeking clarity on royalty payments, financial statements, and access to the full catalogue of recordings.

He said Universal told them that at the time of her death, Deborah Fraser owed Universal Music two albums. Fortunately, the Abanye Bayombona singer had recorded 12 songs before her passing.

Deborah Fraser's family reveal they haven’t received royalties

Instead of releasing the songs as one album, Universal agreed to release them as two separate albums. One-half was released in 2023, while the other six songs were never released, and according to Nkosana Fraser, Universal did not explain why.

Nkosana said they had not received any financial statements detailing how much the record label earned from Deborah’s music following her death in 2022, after a long illness.

“We should be getting financial statements from Universal Music to see our mother’s earnings, but we are not getting anything. This is frustrating and painful,” he said.

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Sunday World reported that Universal Music Group South Africa has not responded to its queries for a comment.

Despite her success in the music industry, Deborah Fraser, like Makhadzi and other artists, spoke out against the financial exploitation of musicians. She also criticised the lack of laws to protect musicians' intellectual property.

Mpura’s family seeks justice after R300k royalties scam

Deborah Fraser's family aren't the only one losing out on the royalties after the death of a loved one.

Briefly News reported that Mpura's family discovered that an amapiano producer illegally concluded deals with two record labels and pocketed R300,000 in royalties.

Mpura's family joined forces with Tee Jay and ThackzinDJ and sought out professional legal help to secure funds due to them. Music expert and consultant Vusi Leeuw worked with the amapiano musicians and Mpura's family to seek justice after their music was misused.

Source: Briefly News