Users urged to pay royalties

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Speech Music Productions, Enock Agyapong, has urged music users who use musical works for commercial purposes to pay royalties to their owners.

According to him, it is illegitimate for music users, including radio stations, to deny music right owners their royalties after using their works to promote their businesses.

The music producer stressed that failure to pay royalties means that the right owners are being deprived of enjoying the fruits of their labour.

Speaking in an interview with BEATWAVES yesterday, Enock Agyapong explained that under the Legislative Instrument 2005 (Act 690), anybody using music to enhance his or her business outside the perimeters of his or her home would have to pay a required royalty or tariff to be determined by the Ghana Music Right Organization (GHAMRO), the only collective society in the country.

He stated that it is only in Ghana that music users have to be chased to pay royalties to their right owners, adding that such attitudes must stop.

The producer, also a copyright advocate, mentioned that GHAMRO which was formed to work towards increased recognition and protection of creators’ rights has failed to put in place logging system to check music being played by radio stations.

Enock Agyapong revealed that the collective system in Ghana is far behind that of the smaller countries in Africa, adding that the sector lacks administrative structures, making it difficult to operate and to monitor users of musical works across the country.

He, however, appealed to the collective society to adopt an aggressive strategy to win the trust of the musicians and also force music users to pay royalties.