GAPI proposes bank for musicians

Can anything overtake cocoa as Ghana’s number one export earner? Answer is simple: Music! That’s according to Francis Twum Mensah, General Secretary of the Ghana Association of Phonographic Industries (GAPI).

“Over 12,000 songs have been recorded in the country at a cost of US$600 million, which is what cocoa generates for the country annually”, he says. “So if priority is given to the sector, funds generated could be used to fund the cocoa industry instead of the usual borrowing.”

Given priority to the sector implies heavy investments in the music industry. But in a country where bank managers are not even enthused about giving loans to the farmers who grow the food they eat, one should not be surprised that they do not even like talking to musicians with some far-off dreams about selling sounds for cash.

Tired of moving from bank to bank for financial support, GAPI is trying to help musicians take their destinies into their own hands. Among the initiatives being considered is the establishment of a Copyright Investment Bank (CIB). The bank’s aim will be to provide long-term financing for producers and musicians.

Mr. Twum-Mensah says if GAPI and its collaborators get the requisite regulatory approval (mainly from the Bank of Ghana) CIB should be up and running by June next year. He reckons that Ghanaian music industry has the potential of earning over 350 million dollars in exports to the world market music and the establishment of the CIB will go a long way towards helping realize this potential. CIB will also help structure all aspects of the music industry including administration, promotion and distribution and the nation will benefit in the long run.

So how exactly will musicians benefit from this set up? Dagfin Bach, Chief Executive Officer of Bach Technology (which is supporting the idea for the establishment of the Copyright Investment Bank) says musicians will get access to soft loans and grants to produce their albums. In addition, their music will be digitized for easy and legal online distribution.

“The benefit from the new system would be a change from having a few thriving music labels to loads of labels dominating the industry as a result of the shift from physical sale of CDs and DVDs to the online distribution which is faster and has a wider market reach,” Mr. Bach said.

The package would also include a technology that would monitor the use and sale of music works on mobile phones, the internet, radio and TV stations, in bars, restaurants, hotels and even in moving vehicles to ensure that musicians are paid appropriately for the use and sale of their works.