Government asked to support the music and creative industry

Bolgatanga (UE), May 3, GNA - Mr Yaw Oxmond, a member of the Ghana Association of Phonographic Industry (GHAPI), on Tuesday called on Government to help the music and creative industry to secure long-term funding, to enhance the works of the music industry in Ghana.

Mr Osmond said challenges to secure long-term funding have driven most talented musicians to diversify into other businesses, thereby stunting the prospects of the industry.

He said Ghana's music could not go beyond the borders of the country because musicians lacked the necessary financial backing to seek services of experts, and in a rush to sell their products, they shoddily package them.

He made the appeal at an advocacy workshop, organized in

Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, by GHAPI, an umbrella body of producers and investors in the sector, in partnership with BUSAC, to drum home the need to procure sustainable funds to propel the growth of the music industry in the country.

Mr Osmond called on members to update their records,

especially the new entrants, to facilitate the work of Ghana Association of Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), a group that manages their royalties.

GHAPI, for the past seven years, in union with its stakeholders, led engagements with Government to raise issues affecting the industry, such as lack of funding and lack of appropriate collection group.

These issues as captured in the Ghana Shared Growth

Development Agenda 2010-13 and the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy paper II, sought to come out with strategies to address the bottlenecks hinging on the industry.

Mr Bics Osei Kuffour, popularly known as Obour, President of Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), congratulated GHAPI for the initiative, to promote the welfare of musicians and investors in the sector.

He said the risk factor in doing business in Ghana kept on

increasing, “for most of us, it is becoming more challenging to secure cheaper or any form of concessionary fund to support the music industry.

Mr Kuffour said “Even for those of us who break the odds to find alternative means to invest in the music business, we are gradually diversifying our operations to include other types of businesses.”

He called for support for the Anti Piracy Monitoring Team, and the immediate establishment of Copyright Tribunals to

arbitrate all concerns on copyright related issues.

GNA