Famous journalist and broadcaster Samuel Atuobi Baah, popularly known as Sammy Flex, has disputed claims that selling off musical catalogues makes a country lose its identity and culture.
According to him, that rather helps to infiltrate other countries with one’s culture and identity.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Max Morning Show in Accra on Wednesday to clear the misconception involving the selling of music catalogues, Sammy Flex explained that the selling of catalogues was a great avenue for an artist to soundly make money from his or her artistic craft.
“No, we are not selling our culture because if a foreigner, like a Chinese or an American, buys a catalogue, the person will give credit to the musician and the origin of the musician. So if the person goes to Asia or America with Ghanaian music, then we have rather infiltrated their culture, not the other way round,” he explained.
Sammy Flex maintained that artistes composed music not just to entertain but to make money from music; thus, selling off the catalogue minimised the risk factors involved in the promotion and marketing of songs.
“The risk factor in music is too much. As a musician is entertaining music lovers, his or her major aim is to also make money from it. That’s why you upload music on various streaming platforms, urging the public to stream it so that you can make money, which the streaming cannot guarantee,” he stated.
Sammy Flex further argued that there were other benefits that followed the selling of the catalogue, stressing that “once the music becomes a hit, the musician can get a show in the foreign country where the music gained prominence.”
The conversation followed the dancehall artiste Shatta Wale’s recent declaration of selling his music catalogue to a streaming platform, Waka Music Limited, for $3.5 million.
Wendy Shay has also expressed interest in selling her catalogue, which has sparked debate among fans and entertainment enthusiasts who see it as a means of losing the artistic pride, identity and culture the country held in awe.
