‘GHAMRO has cheated musicians for long’ - Shasha Marley

Shasha Marley, a reggae artiste has described the Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) as a failure.

He opines that the organisation has for several years cheated musicians because musicians are not getting what they deserve.

GHAMRO is a royalties collection agency within Ghana, that represents the rights of music copyright holders.

It was created under section 49 of the Copyright Law, Act 690 of 2005. The agency collects royalties for all rights owners in Ghana.

However, musicians have over the years complained bitterly that they have not received enough from their royalties.

Sasha Marley adding his voice to the debate said he is not a member of GAHMRO because they lack the system to track and collect royalties for their members.

The royalties collection he suggested has been one of the major threats to the success of Ghanaian musicians.

For sales, he said it is not bad but the royalties that establish musicians are not well managed.

He said he contracted HASCA to collect his royalties in Ghana but they declined because they said Ghana lacked systems to monitor the works of musicians.

He said in other parts of the world, some systems monitor and track how his songs are played.

“The system in Ghana does not work. You would be there and they will bring you GHc400 for the whole year. We don’t have a system in Ghana. No organisation can work with Ghana because they do not have the systems in place. We have a long way to go when it comes to royalties collection.”