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Movies of Wednesday, 10 June 2020

Source: kasapafmonline.com

Film Classification C’ttee without music rep is a recipe for Kwashiokor growth – Artiste Manager

Enock Agyapong Enock Agyapong

Artiste manager, Enock Agyepong has questioned why there was no representative from the music sector to be part of the Film Classification Committee inaugurated on May 14, 2020.

The twelve-member Film Classification Committee which was set up by the governing board of the National Film Authority is expected to ensure an effective classification of films and audio-visual contents that comes into the Ghanaian market and the media landscape.

The Entertainment pundit in a post on his Facebook Timeline said his only issue is with the Classification of Music Videos by a Committee that has no representative with music experience.

“Our only problem is with the classification of MUSIC videos by a board that has nobody with MUSIC business background on it.” He posted on Facebook

Mr. Agyepong outlined three reasons why he thinks the Film Classification Committee should have a person with music know-how as a member.

“First and foremost Music business is a complex specialized field and every day things keep changing in that industry so you always need to keep yourself updated with their issues.

“Secondly, it will spell doom for the Music Industry since their ignorance will only worsen our already deteriorating state since we have to conform to international best practices.

“Thirdly nobody is talking about how good the music production is just like the same is not being said about how good their movie productions are.” He stated

The CEO of Speech Productions also asked why the Committee wants music videos to be tagged with a specific classification from the start to the end of every music video.

According to him, pay-Tv music video television channels like Trace Tv, MTV Base, and others do their own classification according to their jurisdiction and audience.

“Look, we send our videos to Trace, MTV Base, and the rest and they do their own classification according to their jurisdiction and audience. They don’t place PG etc tags directly on our videos,” Mr. Agyepong added

He advised the Film Classification Committee led by Socrate Safo to deal directly with the Ghanaian Television channel owners with regards to music videos and ratings.

“What stops the Board from dealing with our Tv stations rather than individuals when it comes to Music Videos.” He noted

Below are the Committee Members with three Reps from the Movie Sector and other sectors expect music.

1. Minister or his or her Rep is the Chairperson of the committee and in this case, it’s Socrates

2. Information service department

3. NCC

4. Nafti

5. FIPAG

6. Police

7. Copyright Office

8. Christian Council

9. Moslem Council

10. Traditional Religious Authorities

11. Ministry of Gender Children & Social Protection

12. Rep from National House of Chiefs

READ ENOCK AGYEPONG’S FULL POST BELOW.

A MUSIC video Classification board without a Music Representative is a recipe for Kwashiokor Growth.

Let’s congratulate Socrates on his new appointment.

We’re very happy there is a classification board in place to classify contents in Ghana, what it means is that specific times will be allocated for specific content. So, for example, X-rated movies might be aired after 11 pm.

We don’t have any problem with it since we have been fighting for this for a long time and it will only bring sanity into the system.

Our only problem is with the classification of MUSIC videos by a board that has nobody with MUSIC business background on it.

First and foremost it’s disrespectful to want to classify our works yet not have our representative on the board.

A board that consists of 12 members including the Police, Christian council, and Muslim rep but no representative of a product you want to classify?

We raise these issues with no malice but rather strengthen the board.

First and foremost Music business is a complex specialized field and every day things keep changing in that industry so you always need to keep yourself updated with their issues.

Secondly, it will spell doom for the Music Industry since their ignorance will only worsen our already deteriorating state since we have to conform to international best practices.

Thirdly nobody is talking about how good the music production is just like the same is not being said about how good their movie productions are.

For so many years these same film people specifically ARSOG have spent the Musicians and Executive Producers monies in the name of audiovisual and today the same people are here telling us they are going to classify our content without our representative and find it prudent to put other bodies that have nothing to do with our content on the board.

How do they expect to get our full cooperation or they’re going to force it down our throats because they have the Law backing them? Lai Lai.

Another point is, it is very disrespectful, to say the least for our Music videos to be used as content and being paid for by outsiders and not by our own people. Only Metro Tv use to pay us but I don’t know if they still do.

YouTube is paying us for using our videos as content but in Ghana Artist and Managers are being charged before their content is aired which makes no sense but because nothing works properly here we are all living with this anomaly.

Now this board is again telling us to bring our MUSIC videos and pay another fee for it to be classified and given a certificate before sending it to the TV stations for broadcast.

In an interview yesterday on Hitz FM the Chairman said the music videos will be tagged with the specific classification throughout the duration of the video.

A statement like this is the reason why I believe a Music Rep is needed on that board before they start putting tags on our videos when it’s done nowhere in the world.

Look we send our videos to Trace, MTV Base, and the rest and they do their own classification according to their jurisdiction and audience. They don’t place PG etc tags directly on our videos.

What stops the Board from dealing with our Tv stations rather than individuals when it comes to Music Videos.

In fact, apart from Citi TV most of our local TV stations in Ghana are classified either PG or 18+ on DSTV just because we show anything, anyhow at any time.

Since the board has no MUSIC rep I believe they should concentrate on their Film content especially with the influx of foreign content which is alien to our culture and also Money doubling Juju people and fake Prophets who are polluting the minds of our innocent kids.

Like I said YouTube, Trace, MTV, Channel O, etc do not need your classification before accepting videos in fact some are rather paying us for using our CONTENT.

It’s either the board does the needful or deliberately collapse the MUSIC sector and leave their MOVIE sector to prosper since they’re the ones on the board.

In all this, we’ll like to reiterate the fact that we need our own NATIONAL MUSIC AUTHORITY before any misguided chaos starts happening.

Below are the Board Members with 3 Reps from the Movie Sector and Not even 1 Rep from the Music Sector but want to classify MUSIC videos.

1. Minister or his or her Rep is the Chairperson of the committee and in this case, it’s Socrates.

2. Information service department

3. NCC

4. Nafti

5. FIPAG

6. Police

7. Copyright Office

8. Christian Council

9. Moslem Council

10. Traditional Religious Authorities

11. Ministry of Gender Children & Social Protection

12. Rep from National House of Chiefs