Musicians Unhappy With Appeitus And Jay Q

Two hiplfe artistes are complaining about the way Apeatus and Jay Q sign their names in all the songs they record for their clients.

The artistes who pleaded anonymity said they fear for the future of Ghanaian music if some few people can monopolize Ghanaian music by controlling artistes who work with them under the pretext of promoting them.

It has become a phenomenal practice among some sound engineers to sign their signature in the music of artists who patronize their recording studios.

This trend was started by Jay Q, one of the country's renowned recording engineers, then Hammer and his crew also followed with the mentioning of 'Last Two' in their music.

In an interview with a hiplife fanatic, James Odei, he said, "the signing of signature in music was actually started by the Last Two crew before Jay Q and Apietus all started with it, as a music analyst I don't find anything wrong with signing signatures in music, it is done in the United States of America and other parts of the world.

The argument is that, why do sound engineers have to sign their signature in a music whilst they are given their due credits on the sleeve of the album? This argument keeps raging on in the capital as many music fans have expressed their disgust at the way and manner Ghanaian recording engineers are taken advantage of hiplife musicians in the system.

Some of the artistes whose songs have been signed in by recording engineers include, Castro who recorded with Jay Q, Mzbel also recorded by Jay Q, other musicians from Apietus' camp include Wutah, Ofori Amponsah, Praye among many others.

Last year, Batman and Albert Kuwordu, also known as Daavi conducted an interview among the music fraternity about the signing of signatures in hiplife music, most of the interviewees did not see anything wrong with the practice, and some even said the signature adds to the beat and rhythm of the music. It was a heated debate that is still ongoing among many music lovers.

It is very evident that this signature phenomenon has been accepted by majority of Ghanaian music lovers and musicians, but there are cross sections of the public who feel that the practice is exploitation by these sound engineers. A veteran highlife musician who pleaded anonymity said, "They are exploiting the youth, these young musicians pay so much to these unscrupulous recording engineers and after that they get to advertise on your music for free and then they destroy the beauty of your song".

This veteran musician is surprised that the Musicians Union of Ghana, MUSIGA has been very silent about this practice since its inception on the Ghanaian music market. The veteran highlife star argued that " imagine that anyone who worked on the music should be mentioned in the song, it will not sound right and that is why there is an inlay where credits are given to those who worked on the production of the song" he added.

However, as this argument continues to rage on, it is expected that the Ghanaian musicians and stakeholders will raise the issue to discuss it rather than pretend as if it is not a problem that concerns many music lovers and the development of Ghanaian music as a whole.