Chairman of Ghana Right Organization (GHAMRO), Rex Omar
• The issue of music royalties remains a big subject for Ghanaian musicians for years unending
•These musicians took turns to aggressively register their displeasure about GHAMRO music poor structure
•They directly attacked the GHAMRO executives while expressing their views at the summit
During a MUSIGA summit in Accra, some musicians took advantage of the open forum session to vent out their struggles resulting from the poor structures established by the Ghana Rights Organization (GHAMRO).
It is no secret that musicians in the country have expressed varied concerns about their inability to make money from the royalty system.
Many have since attributed the problem to the alleged ineffectiveness of the entire Ghana Rights Organization (GHAMRO).
But in a bid to reiterate such concerns and in a more aggressive manner, these young artistes angrily fired shots at the GHAMRO executives, labelling them incompetent and a bunch of liars.
Obviously fed up with the poor Ghanaian music structure, these artistes who took turns to speak at a music stakeholders conference organized by Charterhouse, looked into the faces of these GHAMRO executives and directed all their frustrations mixed with anger at them.
“I’m not just pissed. I’m just disappointed in my future because I don’t have any livelihood apart from this music business. I have taken note at this seminar that anytime uncle Rex opens his mouth they talk about business and it’s a fair idea. But I want to ask if they too old to run GHAMRO? Are they overburdened? Are they tired?
“Uncle Rex should put himself in our shoes 40 years ago when he was struggling to do music like me. How did it feel like? Now the likes of Big Ben, Kwame Despite are no longer selling CDs so we are realling hustling. Now when you meet someone, they ask what we are doing aside from music. They should think about our livelihood,” a gentleman fumed.
“It saddens me that anytime GHAMRO is invited to conferences and so on, they simply go there to frame lies. We are tired of that. I know they are looking at me with a pissed face but someone has to speak. From Rex to Abraham to Diana Hopeson, all they tell are lies,” said another.
It can be recalled that the likes of Sidiku Buari, Kwame A-Plus, Guru, Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, Samini, Kojo Antwi, and many others have expressed bitterness about the ineffectiveness of the music rights organization.
The limited use of technology to monitor music plays for the collection of royalties accrued in the country has also been cited as one of the main problems faced by the organization.
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