Former MUSIGA president, Alhaji Sidiku Buari
• The former MUSIGA president has advised GHAMRO to adopt a well-organized system for the collection of music royalties
• He also advised radio stations to pay royalties on songs they play on air
• According to him, Ghanaian musicians are not paid what they deserve in terms of royalties
Former president of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Alhaji Sidiku Buari has established that the industry needs an efficient logging system for the collection of royalties in Ghana.
In an interview with YFM, Mr. Sidiku Buari said Ghana’s logging system is not good enough as according to him, musicians are not being paid what they are due when it comes to royalties.
“Our logging system is not efficient because we do not have the right machinery and technology. It was a challenge he also suffered as MUSIGA president. But I thought it would’ve been resolved by now. We tried to resolve this problem in the beginning and thought it would’ve been no more by now but it is still around. If the musician’s intellectual property is being played, it must be logged on a centralized machine. But we’ve still been unable to acquire the technology after all these years because it is expensive. And that is why we need gov’t to support us here,” he stated.
He added that with the appointment of Mark Okraku Mantey as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, such an issue could be resolved.
“Mark has been in the music industry for a while and can now advise on the issue because of his position as Deputy Minister.”
“Some radio stations also refuse to pay royalties to the copyright office and that is not helping. If this is not done, we will keep guessing popular songs are played more than some unpopular songs which may not be the case. With an efficient logging system, our music industry will be made profitable,” he added.
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