The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) has called on the Attorney General (AG), Godfred Dame, to crack the whip against any media house and individuals exploiting the works of musicians without necessary compensation.
The Vice President of MUSIGA, Reverend Dr. Thomas Yawson, who made this call at the stakeholder engagement organized by the National Commission on Culture (NCC) in Accra, lamented that many entities had less regard for the copyright laws and were using musicians’ content without their approval.
He observed that some media houses were using intellectual properties without paying the musicians and expressed worry about the development.
“Copyright and piracy issues are very prevalent in our country. Outfits such as media houses are using the intellectual properties of musicians for their operations, yet they are not paying. There is a need for the AG department to ensure media houses pay for the songs they use,” he said.
Expressing concern for both established musicians and up-and-coming talents, Rev. Yawson revealed MUSIGA’s plans to bring together sellers of music on pen drives and register them on a platform to enable the union to monitor their operations.
This move, according to him, was aimed at establishing a system where a portion of the proceeds from such sales would be directed to deserving musicians.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
