GHAMRO Distributes Royalties On Monday

The board of Ghana Music Right Organisation (GHAMRO) has announced that it will distribute GH¢500,000 as royalties to its members from Monday, September 24.

The payment, according to the board, is in accordance with the Copyright Law 2005 and its regulatory Legislative Instrument (L.I 1962).

A statement signed and issued by the Public Relations Officer of GHAMRO, Prince Tsegah, said this decision has become necessary due to the delay in the release of blank levy due the society from the government of Ghana.

It announced that the amount of GH¢500,000 to be distributed is just part of collections made which is low as compared to previous distributions.

“GHAMRO would like to place on record that it has not received the blank levy payments from government for 2018,” a statement from a press release indicated.

According to the statement, dwindling CDs and cassettes imports have affected the revenue generated from the 20 per cent levy imposed on blank levy under the legislative Instrument, LI 1962.

The statement assured members that steps are being taken to impose levy on other devices such as mobile phones, pen drives, hard discs, laptop computers, among others, to raise more funds for the music right owners.

“GHAMRO is very grateful for the patience exhibited by its members in the face of the delay and assure them of doing everything in our power to protect their interest,” the statement added.

The statement reminded all commercial music users, including broadcasting stations, shopping malls, banks, pubs and hotels to renew their licenses by contacting any GHAMRO offices nationwide and those who have yet not regularised their operational license should do so immediately to avoid embarrassment and possible prosecution in the court of law.