240 composers collect special royalties

The Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) has since last week paid 240 producers and composers various amounts due them from the special royalties distribution exercise currently going on.

Mr Francis Anabu, the accountant at the COSGA Office told Graphic Showbiz last Tuesday that his outfit has not encountered any problem so far in the disbursement of ?150 million which is being shared on the basis of the number of albums released by composers and producers. This amount represents royalties collected within the last four months.

Mr A.K. Yeboah, a member of MUSIGA who is currently serving in the committee which vets beneficiaries before payments are made, said he believes that the official list bloated inspite of a special exercise undertaken recently which rid the list of about 500 "ghost" names.

He attributed the slow response of composers and producers to come forward to claim their share to the possibility that there could still be a lot of false names on the official register of MUSIGA.

He, however, said that until payment closes in Kumasi where beneficiaries of the Northern sector would be paid, no definite figure could be given to represent the true number of composers and producers in the Country. He said the team effecting the payment would move camp to Kumasi next week.

Last week, the Acting Chief Executive of COSGA, Mr J.A. Larkai told Graphic Showbiz in an interview that for several years users of musical works were not made to comply with the logging system which computed the rate at which they use the works of various composers.

He said this has created a problem for the Society when it comes to the disbursement of royalties. He said to circumvent this problem the Board had to sit in a series of meetings with the executives of producers, composers and representatives of MUSIGA before they could agree that the beneficiaries would be paid according to the number of albums they have released.

This method, the Executive Director said, was not ideal as the practice internationally is to use the logging system. He said as part of the reorganisation of COSGA, new logging forms have been designed and distributed to all radio stations in the Country and they would be expected to log the music they use in their programmes or have their licences to run musical programmes withdrawn.

He said with hotels, restaurants, spinners and other users of musical works, COSGA has concluded arrangements to have the executive of their associations collect the royalties on behalf of COSGA. The Executive Director said the Board has targeted one billion cedis to accrue from the collection of royalties by December.