The Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) is set to launch a log book to facilitate the collection and distribution of royalties in the country.
The move is to enhance transparency and minimize the complaints by various musicians who are unsatisfied with the country’s royalty system.
This was announced by Benjamin Oduro Arhin Jnr, also known as Bnoskka, a Creative Art Consultant who doubles as a lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, during a Zoom interview with Max Morning Show on Wednesday in Accra.
He noted that many musicians were unhappy with the amount of royalties they had been receiving from the organization; thus, the organization had worked under the clock to introduce a log book to make the conversation something of the past.
Bnoskka said due to the lapses with the organization concerning the log book, musicians were unaware of the number of times their music was played on radio, clubs, restaurants, hotels, and parties among others, as well as the amount they were entitled to.
He indicated that the log book would enable DJs account to GHAMRO, the number of times they played a particular musician’s song and the time frame to accurately pay for using the songs for commercial purposes.
Educating the public on how the distribution of royalties is done, Bnoskka said the collection organization was entitled to either 16 or 20 percent of the money they collect to run the organization.
The rest, he said were now going to go for the musicians and the writers of the song.
“The organization also collects money on behalf of musicians who are not members. The money is put inside a black box to give those musicians a grace period of five years to join as members. If that grace period elapses, the organization has the right to use that money to help run their activities as they will deem it that, you’re not interested in being a member,” Bnoskka added.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
