Expert challenges Ghana`s music industry
Loading ...A music industry expert, Kwaku has challenged stakeholders in Ghana’s music industry to do the right things to make the industry thrive.
He said the music industry is a multimillion dollar industry but it is unfortunate that the right things are not being done to make the industry develop along the right lines.
Citing examples in the industry in the UK where he lives and works as a music journalist, music lecturer and consultant, he said there are a lot Ghana could learn from the UK experience and create businesses that could lead to jobs and wealth creation for people in the music industry.
For instance referring to the industry in the UK, he said, there are clear differences when it comes to players in the music industry. In the UK, he said, distinction is made between music publishers and producers and distributors. He said the publishers who write the music make more money than the distributors because they have less risk in so far as the actual production and distribution of the music was concerned.
Kwaku was speaking at a music and business seminar Thursday April 17, 2008 in Accra.
He lamented the worsening situation of what is known as ‘payola’ in Ghana. ‘Payola’ is what radio presenters demanded from musicians and music producers before they play their music on air. He described the situation as criminal and called on stakeholders in the industry to act to stop it.
He also said, the lack of marketing within the industry in Ghana has affected the sale of otherwise very good music that could sell anywhere in the world. He gave the example of music from French speaking Africa. He said, most people do not understand the language they sing in, but because the music is well marketed, they sell.
During discussions, one of the participants made a startling revelation. He said he knows someone who had to pay as much as US$5000 to a radio presenter before his music was played on air. “I have to pay as much as US$2000 myself.” He recounted.
The worrying trend is sometimes attributed to the poor salaries radio presenters get. Indeed, some are not paid at all because most radio station owners believe they are doing these employees a favour by offering them a platform to popularise themselves. But, certainly, these excuses could not be reasonable enough for criminal acts.
Contributing, Mr. Bernard Bosomprah, Ghana Copyright Administrator, enumerated the difference between the Copyright Office which is the government agency that enforces the copyright law and the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA), which is a collecting agency. But often people have misunderstood the two entities.
It became obvious from discussions at the seminar that this misunderstanding has undermined the work of COSGA leading to low collection of revenues, which has affected the income of musicians and music producers.
Mr. J. A. Larkai, a former boss of COSGA, spoke about how much work has been done to facilitate the drafting of the Copyright Law for Ghana. He said creating multiple collecting societies would not augur well for the music industry in Ghana but that is what the Copyright Act says.
The Legislative Instrument (LI) which would make the Copyright Act 690 operational, is expected to be passed by the end of April 2008. When it comes into force, it would become an offence to play music in public without licence.
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