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| A final call to strengthen Ghana's Music industry |
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| Posted on: 2007-Jul-10 Statesman |
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Musicians in Ghana have been advised to consider taking legal action against firms that unlawfully use their tracks for promotions without paying due royalties to them.
The call was made at the last of a series of discussions in Accra last Wednesday. The event, dubbed "Distribution: the Key to Success in the Music Industry”, was held in collaboration with BUSAC fund and Metro TV, and was aimed at empowering musicians in he local industry.
It was to also create a viable distribution system that will propel the music industry to dismantle structures that are injustice to the industry as well as touching on issues that will promote the industry.
Carlos Sakyi, programme researcher, consultant, and a copyright advocate in a statement stressed how close the time has come for government to give due recognition to musicians because the industry contributes immensely to the Gross Domestic Product of the economy.
He said, “Distribution plays a critical role in the music business, as it begins the road to recovery of huge sums of money invested in the capital intensive recording business. He indicated that, a well executed, coherent, and cohesive distribution system assists immensely in ensuring a return on investment for music business practitioners and investors.”
Mr Sakyi emphasized that “In Ghana several musical works have crashed and resulted in bankruptcy for investors due to lack of relevant knowledge of the dynamics and workings of mass marketing and how to bring recorded product to retail outlets, and ultimately to the consumer.”
Mr Sakyi reflected on the past records of the music industry, considering the state of emergency that Rawlings imposed in the 1980s, and the effect it had on the music scene. “Ghanaian music should be projected on a world stage where it belongs, like that of South Africa.
It seemed the general thoughts and feelings of those present, was that Distribution is the key to success in the music industry. However, the forms of distribution differed amongst the speakers, with some believing digital distribution is the way to progression, and others wanting the exportation of Compact Discs and Cassettes to be the focus of distribution”.
Metro TV's Deputy Director, Haruna Alhassan, made an unforeseen announcement at the function, about their intention to pay musicians between ¢300,000 and ¢500,000 for any track used, depending on the caliber of the artist. Furthermore, “Air time musicians who appear on Metro TV to introduce new music would also receive the same amount.
Carlos Sakyi and other speakers compared the Ghanaian music industry to South Africa, a nation with a strong distribution system in the music industry, which is in keen competition with the United States and United Kingdom, two of the most organised record industries in the world.
For Ghana to succeed in building an industry in which artists are well compensated it must follow the path of successful nations and not to do something revolutionary, he re-iterated.
“Often times the popularity of music leads to victimisation of the artists since music is the most dynamic aspect of our culture”.
Kwesi Owusu, an international filmmaker, said. “Everyone wants to make money off music, but no one wants to pay the musician.” Furthermore artists are unable to take advantage of their own popularity because their albums are largely unavailable.
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