Musician Eric Turkson, also referred to as Ded Buddy, has joined the chorus of musicians who are criticizing the Ghana Music Rights Organization’s (GHAMRO) activities. According to him, the creation of additional collection agencies will address the inefficient process of collecting and paying royalties.
He said that until the business opened up and welcomed other collective management organizations to compete with GHAMRO, the problems facing Ghanaian musicians will only get worse.
He believed that GHAMRO’s incapacity to fulfill its primary responsibility of gathering and appropriately disbursing payments to musicians amounted to their demise.
“As I’m talking to you now, the last amount I received from GHAMRO as royalty was GH₵158 and that was even two years ago.
“Well, I cannot tell whether they have since sent because the amount is so insignificant that I don’t even monitor the number they send it to.
“But everyone can bear me witness that my songs are being played everywhere but is the royalty I receive reflecting the popularity of my songs?
“Unfortunately, Ghanaian musicians are labouring in vain, we are not benefiting from royalties and the frustrations expressed by musicians over the years tell the reality of this burden,” he told Graphic Showbiz in a recent interview.
After the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) was dissolved in October 2011, GHAMRO was founded in December 2011, which put an end to the musicians’ royalty grievances in Ghana.
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Rex Omar, a former Highlife veteran and current Board Chairman of GHAMRO, was a vocal opponent of COSGA and guaranteed musicians of a fairer royalty structure during his pivotal involvement in the organization of GHAMRO in the past.
However, it seems like Rex Omar and the GHAMRO executives have not lived up to that reputation and are receiving their fair share of criticism from musicians who are always complaining about their meager income.
Many performers, including Shatta Wale, Ohemaa Mercy, and Stonebwoy, have openly criticized GHAMRO for not making payments.
Ded Buddy, on the other hand, thinks that the best course of action is to foster the establishment of new music rights organizations rather than criticizing GHAMRO as a group of musicians.
“I’m a proud member of Alliance for Change, which is a collective agency led by Mark Darlington. The new organisation intends to bring the necessary stakeholders to create more opportunities for Ghanaian artistes.
“At the moment, I receive cheques for royalties every four months for writing just four lines of a song from a music right organisation outside. The amount is more than what GHAMRO has given me in more than six years. This is what I’m talking about,” he noted.
