'We Are Ready To Fight Music Pirates'

The Ghana Music Rights Organization's (GHAMRO) anti-piracy taskforce, made up of police personnel and task force members, yesterday announced that it was ready to embark on a nationwide anti-piracy exercise to arrest all those involved in music piracy in the country.

The executives of GHAMRO, who expressed concern about the increasing rate of music piracy in the country, warned those involved that it was ready to intensify its war against all those who had deprived musicians in the country of their daily bread.

The purpose of the anti-piracy exercise is to arrest several persons who engaged in illegal downloading and sale of music and audiovisual works which violated Ghana's Copyright Laws and International Treaties.

Piracy does not only rob musicians of their expected revenue, but significantly tampers with the quality of their products, thereby causing public disaffection against them.

According to GHAMRO executives, the exercise, which began a couple of weeks ago in Accra, would be extended to other parts of the country, adding that the activities of music pirates had brought untold hardships upon musicians and music producers, who lost heavy investments through such illegal activities.

The activities of pirates, GHAMRO pointed out, if not checked, could kill creativity in the music industry as the pirates were living on the sweat and toil of musicians and music producers.

GHAMRO warned that music sellers should desist from selling pirated musical works and rather purchase original copies of music produced from authentic sources.

 By George Clifford Owusu