Government asked to contribute seed money for Music fund

Wa, May 7, GNA – The Ghana Association of Phonographic Industry (GAPI) has appealed to the government to contribute 10 million Ghana Cedis as seed money towards the establishment of a Copyright Fund to cater for musicians and other players in the industry.

The Fund, when established, could grow into a bank in the near future to provide long-term financing for all players in the industry.

This has become necessary because most musicians and music producers in the country are constrained by lack of finance to produce and market their works due to the lack of tangible collateral to offer the banks for financial support.

Mr. Yaw Osborn, a music producer and a member of Ghana Association of Phonographic Industry (GAPI), said this at one-day workshop for Musicians and Producers in the Upper West Region at Wa.

He said they had to come out of the situation where their creative works had been reduced to mere entertainment and a source of pleasure for people while most musicians remained paupers as a result of little or no protection from the activities of pirates.

Organized by GAPI with financial support from the BUSAC Fund, it was one of many of such workshops geared towards undertaking an advocacy action on developing a policy frame work on the need for access to long-term financing for all players in the industry.

The workshops, which are being organized throughout the country, also seek to advocate for developing and promoting the implementation of programmes and activities that would increase awareness of intellectual property right.

He said there were about 20,000 active players in the industry and appealed to the government to pay heed to their suggestion as more jobs would be created.

GNA