The President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bessa Simons, has asserted that the Ghana Music Right Organization (GHAMRO) is doing some musicians a favor by giving them royalties.
According to him, some veteran and renowned musicians have been receiving a meager sum of royalty out of virtue of being part of GHAMRO.
Explaining his assertion in an exclusive interview with Max Drive in Accra on Tuesday, the veteran highlife musician who has served under the board of GHAMRO explained that most of the veteran musicians were not receiving the needed royalty since their songs were not enjoying massive airplay and also not being streamed.
He said due to that, GHAMRO could not collect any meaningful money on their behalf, but the organization would give them an amount of Gh¢ 100 out of virtue.
“How do musicians get royalties? You get it when your music is being played and streamed, but those people receiving Gh¢100 are getting it out of virtue of being a GHAMRO member. Because most of them, their songs are not being used today,” Bessa Simons stated.
He revealed that the new system that GHAMRO was introducing would even deprive some musicians of gaining a royalty.
Bessa Simons said GHAMRO was integrating into the digital system, and the new system would be more transparent as it would indicate the number of times songs were streamed and played for musicians to calculate the amount they would earn as royalty.
“This digital system will rid off those who are receiving that Gh¢100 because they will now know that no one is streaming their song to even merit such an amount,” he added.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
