Music executive producers reject security device

A number of key Ghanaian Music Producers/Record label owners have called for the abandonment of the so called “security device” system and are thus appealing to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Joe Ghartey to expunge provisions on it from the Copyright Regulations.

This is because the system is outmoded and lacks the capacity to protect their works from piracy. The stickers which are very easy to counterfeit and are alleged to be printed by a printing press in Accra without the facility for Security Printing, are being used by pirates to legitimize their fake works.

The Record Producers vehemently condemned the statement issued earlier without their consent by GAPI president claiming they approve of the “Security Device”. They are therefore totally disassociating themselves from its misleading contents.

The Executive Producers expressed disappointment at the conduct of the GAPI president, who rather than seeking GAPI members interests by calling on the Copyright Office to account to them for “security devices” manufactured and sold over several years without transparency, was rather using their association to endorse what they believe is a scam, in the process putting their legitimate businesses at risk.

One of them, Mark Okraku Mantey of Slip Music, strongly objected to the use of his photograph to endorse the said GAPI press release approving the “security device”/gamugram/stamps on the Ghanamusic.com, even though he has publicly stated his opposition to this security system.

Several others, including Samuel Adjei of A.F Samuel Multigold and Enock Agyepong of Speech Production, cited several instances where they had purchased stickers directly from the Copyright Office without being issued receipts.

This, they stated, is contrary to the stated position that the stickers could only be bought from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) where the gamugram/stickers etc would be affixed directly onto their musical productions before being allowed to go on sale, (itself a cumbersome process which creates immense inconvenience to stakeholders).

This loose and porous system has created loopholes for pirates who have easy access to the stickers (most of which are embossed in Ghana’s national colours, with the Coat of Arms prominently displayed and thus creating the impression of state involvement) to use in legalizing fake works, making it virtually impossible for anybody, including the Police, to distinguish fake from genuine works. Due to these discrepancies majority of executive producers have stopped the use of these so called security device “gamugram” This massive deception must as a matter of urgency be thoroughly investigated by the Police and Attorney General.

They debunked the assertion by GAPI’s president that the security device made it easy to account to musicians, stating categorically that the system rather makes it extremely easy for any bad nut among them to deceive musicians and create mistrust between musicians and executive producers, with allegations of sales of “security devices” in key music market centres including Kantamanto and Asafo, Kejetia in Accra and Kumasi respectively.

They found the assertion that the device enables them to pay taxes absurd, as they are law abiding citizens who pay their taxes already. Why GAPI would advocate for a pre-paid tax in a business that has a 10% rate of success is baffling.

Also, millions of stickers are sold outside the IRS and do not benefit government in anyway. The IRS is only a point of sale and gets 15% commission on each “security device” sold, playing no part in procurement.

They believe the IRS is being used to give credibility to this deception calculated to deceive lawmakers into innocently endorsing this system.

They asked that tax matters are not mixed with protection of works. If deemed fair, the 15% commission can be applied to all other manufactured products, not on only music and audiovisual products as this is discriminatory and unconstitutional- and paid directly to the IRS at the point of manufacture.

The Music producers appealed to lawmakers to respect their constitutional rights as private sector stakeholders and leave them to device their own mechanisms to protect their creative works from piracy and counterfeiting, just like other IP owners, and rather encourage law enforcement agencies to support and collaborate with them to nip these crimes in the bud.

They finally called on GAPI leadership to adhere to good governance practices by consulting members before issuing statements in their collective names, and also to encourage the adoption of modern electronic and digital copy protection systems in this era of technological advancement, as stickers cannot be used to prevent downloading on the internet, for example.

They urged GAPI to assist in making piracy risky and unprofitable, and put an immediate stop to this pointless attempt to force them to adhere to a system they have absolutely no confidence in.